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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.
(Matt. 17:20)
Please note here that Jesus was telling us to have faith "as" a seed. The subject here is not so much the mustard seed as it is the life process of the seed. He also taught about planting it and watching it grow into a huge plant for harvest.
It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.
(Mark 4:31-32)
For years I thought Jesus was telling them about "little faith." I really thought He was getting after them because of the "size" of their faith.

One day as I was meditating on this, I was inspired to compare these scriptures above. I realized then that it wasn't the size that Jesus was dealing with but the way the process works.

It isn't that you need little or big faith. It's most important that you know to plant it as a seed. Even if your faith is small, get it into seed form, plant it spiritually, and it will grow. Get it into seed form!

This was Jesus' explanation to His disciples when He was explaining their power level. It wasn't so much a lack of faith but a misuse of it.

Take what faith you do have (even if it's just a measure), sow it into a spiritual project, and watch it grow.

This was me. I had mustard-seed faith. It fell way short of what was needed to get the job done. But just like the little mustard seed (the smallest of all other seeds), when it was properly planted, it grew into a great plant. This doesn't happen overnight. It wasn't instant harvest time.

It took days upon days for my faith to grow. It took planting after planting to keep full rows of healthy crops in every field of my life. Even today, I have learned that the moment I reap a harvest, I must take some of the seed and replant my field.

If I devour all the seed that I reap during harvest, I have nothing to replant my field with; thus this area of my life will be barren during the next harvest season.

Getting Frustrated
Planting seeds that others give you is also very important. Many people blow it right here. Let me share with you how I began to learn this.

Vickie and I made it a point to be at every major convention or camp meeting where the uncompromised Word was being taught. (We still are so hungry for the truth.) We would sit in those meetings, take notes, mark our Bibles, and just be saturated with the truth.

Even so, I found myself doing something that was causing great frustration in our lives. I was imitating those great teachers so much that I was beginning to sound like them.

I would sit in those meetings and listen to the testimonies of how their great faith brought them such good results. They would tell us how they believed for great things and got them. I got all fired up and went out to do the same thing.

I began to be disappointed because I was not getting the same results. My testimony was far from what I heard in these conventions. It really began to bother me that it would work for others but not me.

Follow closely now. I knew that what those great men of God were teaching was the gospel truth. Yet it wasn't working for me. This caused me to go through different phases and stages of flesh.

First I wanted to say that these things only work for great men and not for everyday people like me; but I discovered that God doesn't work that way. Then I began to condemn myself because I was sure that I wasn't worth anything, that my faith was way too small, and that God was never going to use me. Get the picture?

As I sought the Lord on this, he revealed to me a very simple—yet life-changing—truth. The Lord showed me to get it into seed form. Let me explain.

All those great men of God were testifying and sharing how they planted seed and now were receiving great blessings. I got so excited about airplanes, buildings, cars, and miracles that I got my eyes off the principles being taught. Those great Bible teachers were telling me about their harvest times, not mine.

They were taking a portion of their well-deserved, newly harvested crop and putting some seed back into the ground. They were nice enough to sow some of their seed from their harvest into my life. When I realized I could take that testimony (that seed) and plant it in my own life, it grew for me just like it did for them.

Do you understand? It wasn't my harvest, it was theirs. Their harvest testimony was now my seed. If planted properly, it would produce after its own kind. This is the law of God.

Source: How to Always Reap a Harvest by Mark T. Barclay
Excerpt permission granted by Mark Barclay Publications

Author Biography

Mark T. Barclay
Web site: Mark T. Barclay Ministries
 
Mark T. Barclay is known as a Preacher of Righteousness. He is a proven, precise leader among ministers worldwide. God has anointed him with a severely accurate prophetic ministry.
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The online ministry of cfaith has been helping people discover faith, friends and freedom in the Word since 2000. Cfaith provides a unique and comprehensive collection of faith-building resources for the worldwide faith community.

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