Pastor's Corner: Faith

If faith comes from hearing, and hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17); why are only a few churches overflowing? I understand the regulations of the pandemic but pre-pandemic. Why does coming to church at times feel like a chore? The Bible tells us that it is impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6), which brings us to realize that faith is a big deal. Faith is such a big deal that it is required for salvation. We are saved by grace, which is a gift from God. We receive this gift through our faith in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:8). I believe that we as believers may not completely understand faith and because we do not understand faith, we do not utilize it. We will perish for lack of knowledge, so it is vital that we understand faith.

When faith is misunderstood there is a possibility to call faith something it is not. Have you ever heard someone tell you, "you don't need a lot of faith, if you can just have a little bit of faith as big as a mustard seed, that's all you need?" As I dig deeper, I read the story where Jesus heals the demon possessed boy in Matthew 17. The disciples were unable to heal the boy and Jesus called them a "faithless and perverse generation." He said it was because of their unbelief that if they had faith as a mustard seed, they can tell this mountain to move from here to there and it will move.

The light bulb went on in my head, I get it! I was wrong I did not have little faith, I had unbelief. A mustard seed faith is small in portion but is powerful. Mustard seed faith is pure, it is not perverted. So, when we have a small portion of pure and true mustard seed faith, nothing is impossible for us.

Candy Gomez is pastor of Shafter Christian Fellowship.