LORD, INCREASE OUR FAITH!
Her name is
Carol. But for the last 10 years she has
gone by the name, Miriam. Ever since
she went to
Carol, (Miriam)
is 70 years old now and looks like a typical Turkish woman as she walks the
streets of
She’s smart,
humble, cheerful, gutsy. She burns with an invisible fire that ignites
the lives she chooses to touch.
Carol---Miriam---
is a woman of faith. She is certain that
God wants her in
Jean and I met
Carol more than 40 years ago, when she came to
One day Carol
called and said, “I’m thinking of going to seminary.”
“Carol, you’re
already better equipped than most people coming out of seminary”, I said. “If you want to start a church, begin with a
Bible study and see what happens.”
A few days
later she called and said, “I quit my job as a counselor. I’m going out on faith. I’m going to start a church in the Cass
Corridor.”
So we rented a hall in a cheap hotel and
had an Ordination Service. A group of
local pastors commissioned her with the laying-on-of hands, ordaining her as
the pastor of this new church, Christ of the Cass Corridor.
Carol continued
to sing in our choir Sunday morning and conducted her service in the afternoon,
when most of the folks in the Corridor were up and around. She served that church for many years, until
a call came from Earl Brown in
All through
those years Carol never asked anybody for a dime. No Prayer letters, no bake sales, no
fund-raising. She simply trusted God to
provide. And he did: money, cars, over coats,
whatever she needed. That’s how Carol
lives to this day.
When Carol
says, “The Lord spoke to me,” you can be sure she’s not putting you on. She has a living faith. She walks with God---smart, humble, cheerful,
gutsy. And the fire burning inside her
is the fire of faith.
If
any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and
without reproaching, and it will be given him.
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a
wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that a
double-minded man, unstable in all his ways, will receive anything from the
Lord.
James
1:5-7
“Let them ask
in faith, with no doubting!” Did you
ever ask yourself, “How strong is my faith?
Do I have the kind of faith the apostle James is talking about?”
When God looks into our hearts as we gather in this place today, does
he find faith? Not just repeating a
creed. Not just subscribing to church
doctrine. Faith in God. Faith in Jesus as Lord. Faith that trusts him with your life?
But
let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the
sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
If Peter and
John could tell a man lame from birth, “In the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, get up and walk!”…..If Paul, with a few
words could drive a demon out of a clairvoyant slave girl…how come we don’t see
any of this happening here on Sunday mornings?
“Truly,
truly I say to you, he/she who believes in me will also do the works that I do,
and greater works than these will they do, because I go to the Father.”
John
14:12
What are we
going to do with that promise?
And
by the way, Jesus
didn’t just zap people with healing. He
didn’t simply snap his fingers and empty out the sick wards. He did these things in response to faith—in
him!
“Your
faith has saved you, go in peace!”
“Your
faith has made you well.”
Where there was
no faith, there was no healing. “He
could do no mighty works there, because of their unbelief.”
One
day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go
across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, and as they sailed
he fell asleep. And a storm of wind came
down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, “Master,
Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke
and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to
them, “Where is your faith?”
Luke
8:22-25
“Where is your
faith?” The blind receive
their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are
raised up, and the poor hear the gospel.
Yet Jesus has to say to his disciples, “Where is your faith?””
And we are just
like them. We say we believe in
God. We even believe we believe. But when a storm comes up, we fall apart,
just like they did.
Is there any
hope for us?
Just as surely
as Jesus lifted those disciples out of their unbelief, he will do the same for
us.
Those disciples
knew they had a problem with faith.
“Lord, increase our faith!” they cried.
And that’s exactly what Jesus did.
He increased their faith. In
fact, all the time they were with him, they were in his
So why
shouldn’t the Lord Jesus, whose Spirit is in this room, do the same for
us? What better
reason for us to come together!
He will
increase our faith. All we have to do is admit our need, and
bring it to him. Instead of limping
along on this plateau of half-belief, let’s do what those disciples did, and
say, “Lord, increase our faith!”
The
apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” And the Lord said to them, “If you had faith
as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this sycamine tree, ‘Be rooted up
and be planted in the sea’ and it would obey you.”
Luke
17:5-6
“Increase your
faith? Why, if you had the faith of a
seed in my fingers, you could move mountains and uproot trees!” And then Jesus says, ‘Here’s the first step:
if you want faith in God, you have to be a servant of
God. Nothing special. Just a servant. Serving wherever God puts you. Doing what’s in
front of you to do. No complaining. No looking for bonuses.”
“Will
any of you, who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep, say to him when he has
come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare
supper for me, and gird yourself and serve me, till I eat and drink; and
afterward you shall eat and drink’? Does
he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when
you have done all that is commanded of you, say, ‘We are unworthy servants, we
have only done what was our duty.’”
Luke
17:7-10
Faith is not a
reward I get because I’m a servant.
Faith is a gift which I am only able to receive once I become a servant.
As
long as I cling to
my agenda, banging my head against the wall, trying to make things go my way, I
am a double-minded person, unstable in all my ways. Faith is impossible for me.
But when I let
go of my agenda, and abandon myself to
God---specifically God as he approaches me on my own level in the person of
Jesus of Nazareth, then the miracle begins.
Whether it’s
Peter and John healing a lame beggar, or Paul delivering a slave girl, these
men had long since abandoned their lives to the Master as servants. Or Carol (Miriam) visiting a grumpy shop keeper in
“Why
do I keep coming here? You ask me to
come, but when I come you ignore me as if I don’t exist.”
“Keep
coming. When I see your face, I know
there is a God.”
So think of yourself as a servant of
God. Just a servant. Each morning you present yourself to the
Master.
“Here
I am, Lord. My life belongs to you
alone. I am here to do your will. I present my body to you as a living
sacrifice.
I
turn my mind away from the darkness, and open it to the light of your Spirit,
to love you with all my heart, soul, strength, and mind, and my neighbor as
myself. I will trust you in all things. I will serve you wherever you put me.”
Now step into
this ordinary day, doing ordinary things among ordinary people. And as you do, Jesus will start doing for you
what he did for his disciples---what he did for Carol. He will increase your faith. He will pour a daily measure of his Holy
Spirit into you.
Just as the
Israelites in the wilderness went out each morning and picked up a daily supply
of Manna, so we, each morning receive
a daily supply of the Spirit, who empowers us to believe. You will find yourself, in
spite of your doubts, trusting God.
Intellectually,
you’re still an agnostic. You can prove
nothing to yourself or anyone else. Yet
you just know that he’s going to guide you.
He’s going to provide for you.
He’s going to give you the right words to speak,
without your even thinking about it.
You might find
yourself having a cup of coffee with a stranger, or driving a neighbor to a
doctor’s appointment, or just doing your job at work.. Yet it will be different from the way it used
to be. You’re broken bread and
poured-out wine. You’re a sacramental
presence. The life of the
“Lord, increase
our faith!”
The day came
when these men and women who cried for more faith were out there serving. And as they served, their faith
increased---to the point where they joyfully laid down their lives for the
Master.
“Lord, increase
our faith!”
It is a good
prayer that we need to pray as we follow in his steps. His steps.
Not Peter’s steps or John’s steps or Carol’s steps. His steps.
We each have our own path of faith to walk. If we walk that path as his servants, he
will increase our faith with the power of his Spirit.
We will see
mountains move, we will see streams of healing water
flowing in the desert. We will see
prisoners set free, as we reach out in his name to the forgotten ones of this
world.
If
Jesus is truly our Lord, and we are truly his disciples,
he
will increase our faith!