Introduction
"LITTLE" FAITH GOES
A LONG WAY
She wheeled her way up to me after one of our early
Sunday services crying her eyes out. When she
told me her story, it broke my heart.
It also made me angry.
It wasn't this wheelchair-bound young woman's disability
that bothered me, and it wasn't that she hadn't been
healed. I know my God well enough to understand that
He sometimes allows people He loves to go through tough
times when it suits His purposes, which are always for our
best. What really troubled me was some of the things
some well-meaning but very misguided Christians had
been telling her about her disability. This dear young
woman-a woman who loved God and believed in Him
as the God who keeps all His promises-had fallen victim
to some popular but very unsound teaching.
For years and years she'd been told that the reason
she wasn't able to get up out of her wheelchair and
walk was because she "didn't have enough faith to be
healed." And because she believed what she had been
told, she'd been carrying a load of guilt and sorrow
over her "little faith."
Right off the top, let me say that I certainly do
believe in a wonder-working God of miracles who heals
people when He desires. The God who created the intricacies
of the human body can certainly heal it-in an
instant-whenever He chooses to. But I also believe that
He doesn't always choose to. He didn't in the Old
Testament. He didn't in the New Testament. And He
doesn't now. The truth is, there are times when God
allows His sons and daughters to remain in terrible
physical straits simply because-for reasons only He
understands-He chooses not to raise them up yet. And
until He moves to change our situations, it doesn't matter
how much faith we have, because we'll stay where we
are for as long as He wants us there (2 Corinthians
12:7-10.)
I'm not the first pastor to be angered and grieved
over bad teaching. If you read the book of Galatians,
you find Paul almost beside himself, he was so upset
over the false teachers and twisted doctrines that had
slipped into the church he had founded with his own
blood, sweat, and tears. These teachers were loading
up weights on the backs of the brothers and sisters that
they were never, never meant to bear.
So Paul got really angry.
And so do I.
It deeply disturbs me when I meet so many
Christians walking around today under a load of guilt
because of unbalanced, unbiblical teaching. They can't
look another believer in the eyes because they've been
taught that the only reason they haven't been healed-physically,
emotionally, or relationally-is because they
didn't beg, borrow, or steal "enough faith" to make it
happen.
And it goes beyond healing.
They're also told they need "more faith" to be a good
spouse, a wise parent, an effective employee, and a faithful
witness for Christ. When it doesn't happen . well,
they feel defeated and deficient. Second-class Christians.
What upsets me most about this kind of teaching
is that it directly contradicts something Jesus told His
twelve disciples at the very moment they were facing a
"crisis of faith" of their own: "Assuredly, I say to you, if
you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this
mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move;
and nothing will be impossible for you" (Matthew
17:20).
Jesus calls all of us to live lives of faith. He calls us
to simply believe in a God who keeps all His promises
and who responds to us, when we put the little faith we
have in Him. You see, it doesn't take a large amount of
faith on our part for God to do great things on our
behalf. No, it takes a little faith-faith the size of a tiny
seed-in a big God who is able to do far beyond what
we even dare ask for.
Too many believers make the mistake of building
their "devotional lives"-those times they set aside for
reading the Word, meditating, and praying-around
trying to acquire more faith.
And that, I believe, is exactly backwards.
When we take the attitude that we've got to have
more faith in order to get God to do what we need or
want Him to do, then we're putting the focus on ourselves,
not Him. We become worried and preoccupied
about what we can do, instead of filling our hearts up
with the God who can move mountains on our behalf.
Do you want this whole book in a nutshell? Here it
is: It's not the amount of faith we have that matters. What
matters is what we do with the faith God has given us.
What matters is putting the faith we have-be it great
or small-in a big God, knowing He will keep all His
promises and do what He has said He will do. When
we focus ourselves that way, we can look at the mountains
in our path and know that whether or not God
moves them, our little faith in Jesus Christ will give us
all we need to get through the situation. Any situation.
I hope that as you read through this book you will
see that God never called anyone to have a "big" faith,
just a faith that is completely, radically placed in Him
and in His Word. Even more than that, I hope you will
understand that putting that little faith in Him will
make a huge difference-in your life and in the lives of
those God brings into your world.
How much faith do we really need?
What if you found out you have all you need
already?
Well, read on, and let's check it out!
(Continues.)
