photo inspiration: lipkee
words: phylliswong
I am overwhelmed with joy when my friend, LipKee, gives me a blanket approval to choose from his thousands of photographs of birds for articles posted here.
LipKee has captioned this picture – Then there were four. Yes, first it was one bird, listen, and it’s silent. Then, there were be two, three, four, five… and the number counting.
Wesley 40DOP has set a target of 100 cell groups, both old and new. The prayer warriors (yes, it’s all of you) led by Winnie Tie has started the prayer items. You can read them here in this blog. Winnie has also started sending emails to all key leaders of the prayer items.
100? That’s a big number. We doubt, don’t we? I do, I really do. But this morning, after a meeting, I asked a colleague of mine, “Are you in any cell group?” She answered, “No.” And it was followed by some murmurs like these, “No one takes care of me.” This sister was baptized in our church a year ago. She readily accepted my invitation to my small group for the 40DOP and she said she would invite another colleague!
That was the second time that I was overwhelmed with joy today!
We just need a Little Faith. With a Big God, then there were four …
Rick Warren shared his thoughts in today’s email devotion -
[The boy’s father said,] “. . . If you can do anything, do it. Have a heart and help us!” Jesus said, “If? There are no ‘ifs’ among believers. Anything can happen.” No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the father cried, “Then I believe. Help me with my doubts!”
(Mark 9:22-24, MSG)
Rick Warren said it is possible to be filled with faith and doubt at the same time. He continued,
You can have faith that God wants you to do something and still be scared to death. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is going ahead and doing what you’re called to do in spite of your fear.
You have to begin with the faith you already have: it may be just a little, but you start there. A beautiful example of this is the story of the man who brought his sick son to Jesus in Mark 9. Jesus looked at the man and said, “I can heal your son. If you will believe, I will heal him.”
The father then makes a classic statement: “Lord, I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief.”
Have you ever felt like that? “Lord, I have some faith. But I also have some doubts.” This man was filled with faith and doubt, yet despite his honest doubts, he went ahead and asked Jesus for a miracle. And he got his miracle – Jesus healed his son.
No matter how weak or how frail you think your faith is, it’s enough. It’s enough to get you through what you’re facing, and it’s enough to complete the vision God has planted in your heart.
Matthew 17:20 says, “If you have faith as small as the mustard seed . . . nothing will be impossible to you.” (NIV) That’s not a lot of faith; in fact, it’s just a little faith. But what else does that verse teach? “If you have faith as the mustard seed, you can say to the mountain, ‘Move’ and it will be moved.”
Mustard seed faith moves mountains. Don’t get this reversed. We like to read this verse backward. We want it to say, “If you have faith like a mountain you can move a mustard seed” – as if it takes enormous faith to do a very little task.
God wants you to start with the faith you have, and based on the example of the mustard seed, you don’t need a whole lot of faith to do great things for God. You just need a little.
What does this mean?
* Everybody has faith – You had faith this morning when you ate your cereal – faith that your spouse didn’t put poison in your granola! You had faith when you sat down in your computer chair – faith that it wouldn’t collapse.
* Everybody has faith; the difference is what you put your faith in – Sometimes people will say they don’t want to go to church or make a commitment to Christ until they understand it all. Believe in this trustworthy equation: Little faith + Big God = Huge results. You take your little faith, “Lord, I believe! Help me with my unbelief!” You put it in our big God, and then he’ll show you how he works out huge results.
So, are we ready to start with that little faith? Watch and listen to Brother Daniel Cheng on opening up your homes to host a group -
If you know how to operate a DVD
If you have a heart to serve
That’s it!
