Gospel Reflections #354: It's God's Strength All Along

Matthew 17:19-21 "19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” 20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

This is one of the times when Jesus took only Peter, James, and John up the mountain while the father came to the remaining disciples for the healing of his child who was possessed by an evil spirit, but the disciples could not cast out the evil spirit, so the disciples asked Jesus.

When we are around the One who works miracles, we tend to fall into the illusion that we too can work miracles.

This may not come from pride or arrogance, but from a sense of mission, responsibility, or justice.

Even so, if we are not aware that we have no power, we end up relying on our own strength.

If we have "faith as big as a mustard seed" in Jesus, Jesus says, there is nothing we cannot do.

But this kind of faith must come through prayer and fasting! Jesus said. So, this sort of thing is where we try to use the Holy Spirit for our deeds or let the Holy Spirit use us, isn't it?

When God wants us to do something, He does not want us to do it in our own strength, but to depend on Him, to surrender to Him, and to do it with Him.

God does not blame or grieve us for not being able to do something, but God's heart does not want us to try to do it alone, and so He leads us to come to Him.

Indeed, we can be 100% dependent on God because He will help us.

Our God is the one who allows us to grow and mature through our dependence on Him.

Let's run to Him without hesitation!

This Gospel Reflections page is written by Masae San, who resides in Hiroshima, Japan. Masae is a dedicated student of the Bible with a deep passion for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She shares her daily reflections on Gospel perspectives to reach out to others and spread the message of God's true love through a Christ-centered approach. We are sharing her insights here so that you, too, can experience the joy that comes from knowing and understanding the true Gospel and the love of God through Jesus Christ.