​“So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief;  for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”​   ~Matthew 17:20

Can faith really change our outcomes? I would have to say, most definitely, yes! Our faith, in His power, is the catalyst for miracles. Jesus repeatedly said, by your faith you are healed. But the opposite also hindered Him, when there was no faith He didn’t perform miracles. Our lack of faith is what blocks God from helping us! 

​“Now He did n​ot d​o many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”   ~Matthew 13:58

Was Christ’s potential to perform miracles dependent upon the faith of those he taught? Apparently so. His capacity to help us is in direct proportion to our willingness to receive His help. He always honors our free will. He won’t force Himself on us for any reason, not even to help us. He can’t give what we won’t receive.

​“Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief…”   ~Mark 6:5-6

So, if we have great faith, we can see big miracles but, if we are without faith, we will literally be blocking our successes. We are subconsciously preventing the occurrence, realization, or attainment of whatever we are needing and hoping for through our disbelief. If we don’t believe, we can’t receive. It’s just that simple!

​“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”   ~Hebrews 11:1

Wow! This is some seriously powerful information right here in the Bible—the secret to actually receiving the power of God—faith! Faith is what we bring to the miracle table, faith and then action. You see, faith is the biggest part we play in this whole relationship with God. Without faith it’s impossible to please Him, but with faith, in God, all things are possible.

​“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”   ~Hebrews 11:6

​“But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.”   ~James 1:6

If we continually sell ourselves short, doubting not only our own abilities and gifts, but the empowerment of Almighty God as well, we will undoubtedly fail in everything we pursue. We must have faith, and then we must act on our faith!

​Let’s take Peter, and the walking on water miracle as a great case-in-point of this very thing. Peter had faith, faith enough to actually get out of the boat and step onto the water on Jesus’ command. Now, that’s some pretty solid faith if you ask me, but then, as soon as the waves smacked against his leg, his fear overcame his faith. In that millisecond he lost his focus on Jesus and looked at fear. In that very act of disbelief, he began to sink. But the story doesn’t end there, and for a very good reason, because we all lose our faith from time to time, and God always gives us another chance, He is always reaching out to rescue us!

​“And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”   ~Matthew 14:31

Jesus immediately reached His hand out to Peter and said, why did you doubt. This is the moral to the whole story—our looking at the fear-waves and doubting, and Jesus always holding His hand out to rescue us. 

We must use our free-will to get out of the boat when Jesus calls us to, and then grab hold of our faith in His power to do whatever He has called us to do. God can’t help us if we don’t believe He can. If we aren’t willing to put forth the effort, do the work to take a step in the direction He is leading us . . . we will just stay stuck in the boat.

​“But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? You ​see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.”   ~James 2:20 & 24

​We need to make an effort to step out in faith when we feel God leading, but we must always remember that Satan is standing in the wings doing everything in his power to derail our faith, just like he did with Peter. The more we learn to trust God and walk in faith, the harder the devil will pursue us to get us to doubt. Even if it’s just for a moment, so we’ll begin to fail and sink. Then he’ll pull us down into the waves of doubt and fear to keep us from doing God’s will.

​“Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”   ~Mark 9:23-24

We all need to pray like this verse instructs, ask God to increase our unbelief, and then continue to pray for more faith . . . just like the apostles did! Are you ready to reach your God-given potential? Are you ready to walk on water? All we need is faith!

​“And the apostles said to the Lord, increase our faith.”   ~Luke 17:5

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