“Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him.” (Mark 11:22-23)
When Jesus said that, He meant it!
The way to do this is to build your faith in the following way:
- Trust God like a child who trusts his parent
- Practice trusting Him in everything you do
1. Be like a child
For #1, Jesus said: “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all” (Luke 18:17). So how do children receive God? They don’t think like adults! They listen to God with awe and wonder. And they take Him at His word!
If you look at how kids play, they are not afraid to imagine. They are not afraid to dream. They are not afraid to do the seemingly crazy or silly things. God wants us to be like children in our trust for Him. “Nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). So God wants us to trust Him like children, and do the things that people say are crazy or impossible.
Jesus said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you.” (Luke 17:6). People might call Jesus crazy, because who would want to plant a tree into the ocean? This seemingly silly idea is actually the key to being like a child. Imagine the disciples trying this. They would stand there in front of a tree and practice this! Is that crazy? Not to God. This is being like a child. Children would think it’s fun. Adults would call it crazy.
2. Practice trusting Him in everything
This leads to point #2. We need to practice building our trust in God in everything we do. We may not be able to have great faith to move mountains overnight. But with practice in everything we do, we build that faith little by little. As we do so, we will end up with faith that’s enough to move mountains.
Spend time with God in prayer and in His word everyday. Talk to God about everything, and listen to what He says to you. Practice trusting Him with work or school, relationships, your daily needs, and the needs of those around you. Practice trusting Him with every small thing and with every big thing. From the practice, you will gain increased faith in Him as He shows Himself faithful to you.
Trust Him without giving up. Obey Him in everything.
Although this sounds hard to do, you can do it with God’s help. However, you must keep practicing even when faced with hardships. This is what God means when He commanded us to love Him with all our heart, strength, soul and mind (Mark 12:30-31).
With regards to trusting Him, you can love Him this way by: Trusting Him with all your heart, practicing with all your strength, relying on the Holy Spirit, and setting your mind to believe!
“Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.” (Mark 11:24)
To learn more, please see increase faith in God even if you start out with very little.
See the next lesson: End Times.