“As Jesus went into Capernaum, a centurion came up to Him, begging Him,
and saying, Lord, my servant boy is lying at the house paralyzed and distressed
with intense pains.
And Jesus said to him, I will come and restore him.
But the centurion replied to him, Lord, I am not worthy or fit to have You
come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant boy will be cured.”
Matthew 8:5-8
Our faith in God is so important we can all agree. The word says, “without faith it’s
impossible to please Him” (Hebrews 11:6)
The story of the centurion reveals something amazing about the faith we are supposed
to walk by.
Before the centurion came to Jesus the pattern was this, Jesus would go and lay hands on the
sick person or the sick person would come to him.
But when the centurion went to Jesus and offered to go with him to heal his servant, the
centurion said no. He knew all Jesus had to do was say the word and his servant would be
healed!
Look at Jesus response to the centurion’s faith,
“When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you,
I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!”
Matthew 8:10
The centurion’s faith was very unorthodox.
He didn’t look at what everyone else was doing.
He had a revelation of Jesus and held on to that.
He knew there was no limit to his faith in God even if it meant asking for something
that seemed impossible.
Jesus didn’t tell the centurion to fall into line and trust the way everyone was trusting.
He marveled at the unorthodox faith of the centurion.
Don’t hold back when it comes to trusting in God.
No matter how big, and impossible it seems, keep trusting Him.
Don’t let people tell you what to trust Him for and how to trust Him.
He wants you to exercise your faith in Him.
Let’s look at one more story,
“Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea,
they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!”And they cried out for fear.
But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not
be afraid.”
And Peter answered Him said, “Lord if it is You, command me to come to You
on the water.”
So He said, “Come.”
And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to
Jesus.
Matthew 14:25-29
Again we see someone exercise their faith in an unorthodox way. Peter broke all
protocol if there ever was any, concerning faith. At Jesus command he jumped out of the
boat and walked on water. When Peter asked Jesus to call him to walk on the water,
Jesus didn’t complain and tell Peter to tone it down! No!
He encouraged Peter to step out. When Peter started sinking this is what He said to him,
“But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried
out, saying, Lord, save me!
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: 30, 31
Peter’s faith wasn’t perfect but he still walked on water. His sinking is evidence of that.
But his rushed, raw, unchecked, bold, imperfect faith made him walk on water.
Jesus didn’t stop him from jumping out of the boat.
Jesus told Peter to “COME”!
Friends, it’s time to take the limits off our faith.
I was speaking to a friend a few days ago and he was telling me about the struggles
he was facing applying for university. He told me he was now looking at doing his
course on line because it was “easier”.
My friend is so talented and God fearing and I know God has great things in store
for him but I was afraid to tell him to keep trusting God to go to university. So I ended
my conversation and left it like that.
I made the mistake of looking at his situation through natural eyes and agreed with him.
I was meant to challenge him to throw off the limits.
I was meant to encourage him to trust the Lord for anything and everything, to make him
see that the Lord could and will open any door for him.
When I see him again I will do so and not hold back.
Are we letting the circumstances around us determine what we trust God for?
God wants us to trust Him for the impossible, whatever that may be.
Even if it seems crazy to the people around us, we must trust!
He will answer our crazy prayers. God loves it when we exercise our faith.
We must be like the centurion and Peter. We must be bold and ask Jesus for whatever
He has put in our heart no matter how impossible it seems.
We can’t be conventional with our faith.
We need to take the “training wheels”off our faith because what the training wheels
really are, are hindrances, and obstacles.
Let’s ask God to help us to break the box we have put Him in.
He doesn’t live in a box. He lives in a place where anything is possible.
Remember, we are the ones who see limits, not God. He doesn’t see
limits.
With faith there are no “out of bounds”areas, there are no areas that are “sectioned off”.
Everything is open game when we talk about faith.
Don’t shelve anything unless God tells you to.
My prayer for us is to throw off all restraints when trusting God.
God, help our unbelief. Now is the time to trust.
It doesn’t take great faith to move a mountain.
According to Matthew 17:19, 20 all it needs is faith as small as
a mustard seed to move a mountain!
Let’s not wait for our faith to be “perfect”
Let’s start now. God will come in and work with our mustard seed faith.
He will start moving with the faith we have now!
Amen!
Rolain
kingspeech 