Recently the Lord told me, "You're not waiting on a new word... you're waiting on a mustard seed to grow." I had an accompanying impression that some of us are already holding in dormant form the catalysts for shifting the terrain of our lives. Where there's an empty space of expectancy, there may not be a need for something new, but a need for a renewed faithfulness in the fruition of what we have been waiting on but have not yet seen.
I began to look at the context of mustard seed in Jesus' teachings. In Matthew 13:31–33 Jesus said, "...'The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.' He told them still another parable: 'The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.'"
What struck me is that both of these examples (yeast and seeds) involve something very small being held in the right conditions for an extended time and becoming something large and dynamic, with a visible effect. Instead of a specific length of time being required for the activation of a seed or yeast, it all depends on the conditions that they are in. In the same way, some have been waiting for what they think is chronos time (specific place on the timeline), when in fact they've been waiting for the alignment of conditions needed for kairos time (God-appointed, "it's ready" time).
Holding Our Faith against the Resistance
I remembered the strengthening program I went through after having my children to bring my abdominal muscles back together. It was what felt like the most counterintuitive experience, because it took only ten minutes per day, and was usually activating small but precise ab muscles by contracting and holding them still for several minutes at a time. The time seemed too little. The "exercises" (compared to crunches or weight lifting) seemed more like breathing exercises than a workout. But because of the little bit of contracting and holding the muscles still in the presence of resistance, which was done over weeks and weeks, that small thing built more strength and healing in me than anything else I tried.
Faith, like a mustard seed, is also something that must be held over time. On several occasions Jesus spoke the convicting words "O you of little faith." He also told His disciples when they asked Him why they were unable to deliver a boy of a demon that it was because they had "so little faith" (Matthew 17:19–20). The phrase "little faith" is a compound word in the Greek (oligópistos) which means "in small number"; while its first root word (olígos) means "brief," "short time," and a "little while."
I find it even more amazing that immediately after telling them this, Jesus said, "...Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you" (Matthew 17:20). (Photo via Unsplash)
Perhaps within the mystery of faith there are times in which we do have faith as big as a mustard seed, but we just need to hold our faith a little LONGER.
What does it look like to hold our faith in such a way that our mustard seed can germinate? Earlier in that same chapter (Matthew 13), Jesus talked about the conditions of resistance in which we will need to hold our seeds. In the parable of the sower, Jesus listed three things that get in the way of the fruits of the Kingdom of God, going from seed (word) form to experiential form:
1. Seed Sown along the Path
The first is that satan tries to take away the word.
"When anyone hears the message about the Kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path." (Matthew 13:19)
The enemy is not powerful enough to nullify the promises of God, but he does try to stir up our emotions and keep us flip-flopping between belief and double-mindedness to get us to change our minds constantly as to whether or not something is a good seed.
We treat things we expect to grow very differently than those we don't. In this battle of the mind, we quickly pick our seed back out of the growing conditions of belief and chalk up the lack of growth to the seed's impotence. A seed that's continually scattered and picked up and resown and regathered won't grow (even though we might try many times). That seed, however, still holds all the potential it did in its creation, but it shows none of the manifestations of its sown form, because we haven't stayed convinced of its potential long enough to keep it planted as we endure the waves of emotions, doubt, or the provocation of the enemy.
This tactic is used by the enemy in the time between receiving the word and being able to SEE it grow—the time of spiritually staring at the dirt, trying not to dig up the seed to see if it is doing anything.
2. Seed Sown on Rocky Places
The second thing that keeps us from holding our seed in conditions conducive to growth are the rocky places.
"Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away." (Mark 4:16–17)
Trouble or adverse conditions are not actually a threat to what God has planted in us or planned to do with us... unless we don't bother to break up the rocks.
I live in a part of Texas where the soil is so rocky that planting anything to a sufficient depth requires special tools. One time my son was eating melon in the backyard and "accidentally" started a melon garden. Because the seed was not purposefully planted and the soil was rocky, the garden sprung up in abundance... for about a week or two before dying off. It takes effort to get a seed to the right depth and to nurture it.
Hear me: this "effort" isn't a works-based effort but an effort like holding tight. The room available for your growth is determined by the amount of rocks you're willing to bust.
Jeremiah 23:29 says, "'Is not My word like fire,' declares the LORD, 'and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?'" How do we break up rocks? We remind ourselves of God's Word. We don't fortify our daily decisions with assessments of facts or measures of progress; rather, we do it with words of God's truth and testimony. By doing so we clear room for the roots that God has told us to have faith for. (Photo via Unsplash)
3. Seed Sown among the Thorns
Lastly, Matthew 13:22 tells us, "The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful." The word for choke in the Greek (sumpnigó) means "choked because joined with" (see Bible Hub, Strong's Concordance 4846). In other words, if we join our beliefs about God and His promises with, and based on, our disappointing past experiences or logic of the world, they won't grow.
I recently planted beautiful plants in pots by our front door. After a week or so, weed seed must have blown into the pots, because these beautiful-looking plants sprung up next to them overnight. Because they appeared to be beautiful, I left them. Within another week, they had sucked all the nutrients and water from the soil and both were wilted. Sometimes our "weeds" look attractive because they come in the form of lies about what we must do to get the best outcome for ourselves (self-preservation), or and how to seek our own kingdom (self-promotion). But no weed can stay and not take the same nutrients (faith, hope, belief) that our mustard seed needs.
Many weeds also grow much faster than other plants. Sometimes we believe that the first thing to "grow" is the result of the seed we planted. Maybe we prayed for something once and nothing seemed to happen, and we believed it to be God's answer. Sometimes we have to recognize and remove the weeds, and then wait a little longer to see what God really intends to grow.
When our seeds are choked, this "leaves them inoperative (stalled, spiritually suffocated)" (see Bible Hub, Strong's Concordance 4846, HELPS Word-studies). The beauty, however, is that stalled isn't destroyed. A seed is a seed, even when dormant.
I was researching mustard seeds and found a beautiful picture. Garvillo Gardening magazine says, "To break seed dormancy, you can scarify the seeds by gently rubbing them with sandpaper or soaking them in warm water for a few hours before sowing."
How do we reactivate dormant seeds in our life? We ask God to shape and scrape what we have been believing. Then we soak in His Word. We maintain the conditions of our heart's soil. We don't doubt our seeds; we break up lies with His truth, and we don't allow what isn't God's truth to grow. Then we wait to see what grows.
Here are some questions to ask God:
• What area are You calling me to hold my faith longer in?
• What expectations do You need to "weed out" of my faith?
• What lies do You need to break up in the soil of my heart?
"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see... By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible." (Hebrews 11:1, 3)
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Sara Whitten
Arrows of Zion
Email:Â sara@arrowsofzion.com
Website:Â www.arrowsofzion.com
Sara Whitten is an author, speaker, equipper, and founder of Arrows of Zion Ministry. She and her husband are youth pastors at Impact Christian Fellowship in Kerrville, Texas. Sara is a prophetic writer that is featured on Charisma, The Elijah List, Spirit Fuel, and more. She hosts "Hear God Every Day," a podcast with tools to help amplify the voice of God amidst the noise of everyday life. She participates in developing resources and Bible-based trainings for areas least reached by the Gospel. Sara also facilitates trainings for professionals wanting to use their business or marketplace skills for the Kingdom.
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