When in our college bible study group we asked our Teens to write down and define what faith meant to them these were some of their answers.

" Faith is when i am in trouble and i pray to God and my problem is solved."

" Faith is when i ask for something that i really want and it immediately is given to me."

When asked to share their experiences or give examples to justify what they had said some said, how they would keep Bibles under their pillows just before the night of their exams and they would do extremely well.

Or the day when they weren't prepared to submit very important assignments and homework and when they had prayed really hard, the next day the class was cancelled as the teacher fell ill or had fallen and fractured her leg or arm.

So the attitude towards faith and prayer today is that if there are instant responses and answers which favour and individual then that is true faith.

Mustard Seed:

Luke 17: 5-6 The Lord replied " If you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can say to this mulberry tree be uprooted and planted in the sea and it will obey you."

Many of us today always have a problem comes to this verse. ONe student had a question stating that if it was as simple as that why could'nt we solve everything by just having faith.It reminded me of the story my friend Rachel told our Bible study group. An old woman who kept wanting to see if this biblical verse really worked kept checking if the tree near her house would atleast uproot itself and move leave alone plant itself in the Sea. So faithfully every morning she would read this verse and peep outside her window but she was disappointed to see that nothing ever happened and she soon gave up her practice.

This is where we all go wrong. My personal belief is that faith cannot be half- baked and filled with doubt. It has to be 100% faith. Even if there is an ounce of faith then there are no possibilities of miracles ever happening in our lives. and even if there is complete faith , we forget that anything and everything will happen only if it is the will of God.

Hebrews 11:1 says Faith is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. And with faith and prayer God works miracles. Even when we testify we need;nt look at the Big events that have happened in our lives as testimonies of faith. For me if we are wake up this morning and stay alive that too is a symbol of his mercy and grace. There have been instances where a small prayer has helped many of us find something that we have lost. An angry or emotional confrontation with a loved one being smoothed out in ways not expected. At times when we least expect help during financial crisis a stranger or a friend appearing on the scene and helping us out, all these are signs of God's intervention in our lives.

WHY DOUBT?

But unfortunately we are all human after all and we often forget that there is a God above who is there watching over us. We rely on our loves ones, our families, our parents, friends,children and everyone else before we finally turn to God and say " Please help me Lord! I have no where to go.Prayer and faith become last resorts. But i strongly believe that even in the worst and most impossible scenarios if we turn to God, he will turn the events in such a manner that they will work for you. It requires nothing but unconditional faith.

And there are times when we are very frustrated that we turn away from God or doubt his will in our lives but when we do finally see that he had always had the best things ready for us we feel guilty that we ever doubted him. We think twice about going back to him after a life of disbelief and doubt.

But there is hope for us and the people who had doubted him once upon a time are till today looked up to as God's faithful followers. For instance Abraham and Sarah even laughed when they heard that they were to give birth to a child much after their childbearing days. Genesis 15:6, 17: 15-19.

Moses also had his moments of doubt when the Lord told him to lead his people.Exodus: 3:11-14.He felt that he was too insignificant to carry out such a great task, but the Lord had always been faithful towards his children.

In today's world with its Glitter and glamour enamours the old and young alike to live a life that promises to be fun-filled, carefree and promiscuous. It takes real courage to profess your faith as a christian and stand up for what is right. We like Noah and Job need to have faith and be able to stand up for Christ and his faith in spite of the persecutions that we have to face. And more than ever today when morales are at an all time low and everything is acceptable as long as you are happy our faith in Christ should be unchanging and immovable. It must be like the faith of the boy who carried an umbrella. The story goes like this. A village which was suffering from a dire scarcity of water decided to have a special worship service and the entire village turned up for the service. They fasted and prayed the whole day and when it was almost dusk the heavens opened wide and the rains came pouring down. The villagers were drenched to their skin except for one little boy. He was the only one who had so much faith that God would answer his prayer and had remembered to bring his umbrella.

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