Dear Partner,

If you are like me, you've probably heard many messages in your lifetime about "Mustard Seed Faith." Most of the time, the minister quotes from this verse that says,

Mat 17:20  And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, 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.

Those messages usually concluded with statements like, "All it takes is a little faith, just faith the size of a mustard seed, to move the mountain." I have believed that message all of my life until one day while in prayer the Holy Spirit gave me a simple assignment. He said, "Go through the four gospels and see if you can find one time when Jesus ever commended anybody for having little faith." I searched the gospels intently and found that Jesus never once commended anybody for having "little faith." On the contrary, Jesus seemed to be alarmed that His disciples had so little faith. Here are just a couple (of many) examples:

Mat 8:25-26  And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

What must we conclude? LITTLE FAITH IS NOT ENOUGH TO STOP THE STORM! Another example is after Peter walked on the water, his attention was diverted from Jesus as he saw the waves and the wind boisterous. He began to sink and cried out for Jesus to save him. Notice how Jesus responded to him,

Mat 14:30-31  But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

What must we conclude? LITTLE FAITH IS NOT ENOUGH TO KEEP US FROM SINKING! Over and over again I found this same pattern to be true. Jesus never commended little faith. What He did commend was … GREAT FAITH!

So, what did Jesus mean when He said "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." We have found that He most certainly did not mean that "little faith" was enough to move the mountain, as we have been taught by our modern-day teachers in the church. Yet, there is some kind of faith, which is as a grain of mustard seed, which WILL move every obstacle out of the way. What is that kind of faith?

I did a little research on the type of mustard that is grown in Israel. Sure enough, the mustard seed itself is very tiny, about the size of a grain of pepper. The plant that grows from that seed, however, reaches a height of ten to fifteen feet tall … in a single growing season! Jesus was not comparing our faith to the size of the mustard seed itself, but rather to the "image" contained within the seed!

Every type of seed has an image programmed within it. That's why you can take a yellow kernel of corn, plant it in the ground, nurture and water it, and grow a green plant that is usually about six feet tall containing several ears of corn. How do you get a six-foot tall green plant to grow out of a yellow seed that is only about a quarter of an inch in diameter? What makes that possible? The "image" that is pre-programmed within the seed! In every seed, no matter what kind, there is great potential because of the image that is contained within it.

What is Jesus telling us when He teaches on us having faith like a grain of mustard seed? One thing is for sure: Every believer has within them the "potential" of having GREAT FAITH! Why do I say that? Because every born again believer has the SEED of Christ sown already within their heart. Christ is the SEED!

Gal 3:16  Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

If you are born again … Christ is in you! This is the mystery of the ages! Christ, the SEED, within us;

Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

For a natural farmer in Israel, "mustard seed faith" would be to do those things that are necessary to release the image contained within the grain of seed. For believers, "mustard seed faith" would be to do those things that are necessary to release the image of Christ contained within our reborn human spirit. For the next few months we will be exploring HOW to release that image. Every believer can go from "little faith" to "great faith" once they know how to do it.

Sue and I love you and appreciate you. We thank God for your generous and giving heart. God bless you!

Your friend and co-laborer,

Gary Carpenter

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