– Scripture:

He told his disciples, “Hard trials and temptations are bound to come, but too bad for whoever brings them on! It’s better to wear a millstone necklace and take a swim in the deep blue sea than give even one of these dear little ones a hard time! “Be alert. If you see your friend going wrong, correct him. If he responds, forgive him. Even if it’s personal against you and repeated seven times through the day, and seven times he says, ‘I’m sorry, I won’t do it again,’ forgive him.” The apostles came up and said to the Master, “Give us more faith.” But the Master said, “You don’t need more faith. There is no ‘more’ or ‘less’ in faith. If you have a bare kernel of faith, say the size of a poppy seed, you could say to this sycamore tree, ‘Go jump in the lake,’ and it would do it.

                                         Luke 17:1–6 MSG

– Reflection:

                     A Kernel of Faith

We all want our lives to matter. We want these few days we spend here to mean something. We want to have some sort of impact. Well, if we really want impact, we’ve got to allow the amplifying power of the Holy Spirit to work through us by being willing to act in faith. When we act alone (as we so often do), we do so with our own strength. But when we act in faith, our actions are amplified by the strength of a great and powerful God. Men and women acting in faith have “stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.”

Where do we go from here?

The surprising thing about acting in faith is that unlike when we act alone, our skill or cleverness does not determine the magnitude of impact. When the Apostle Paul worked to start the church in Corinth, he spoke “in weakness and fear,” lacking “plausible words of wisdom.” He must have doubted whether he’d had any impact at all. But the church was established nonetheless. “God’s Spirit and God’s power did it,” through Paul’s seemingly unimpressive actions, taken in faith.

Our Prayer for Today

Father, You wake us every day ready for the work You have for us. Please watch over us as we go about our day. We will definitely have some ups and downs because of our human condition. Please help us to keep you on our minds as we do what we are supposed to and continue helping those who are further away from you than us. As I end this prayer, I want to honor my Aunt Vera for the loss of her son “Deron Thompson.” Keep her and my cousin Shunda safe, as well as the family’s little ones. Keep them safe and protect them for the rest of the day. In Jesus’ name, we all said. Amen.