If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. — Matthew 17:20
The people I worked with on the EMS unit used to laugh at me. I had a reputation for being creative in difficult moments. When a situation presented itself that had no obvious solution, something in me would start looking for one that was not in the textbook. I was known for thinking outside the box when the box was not working.
I remember one call in particular where we could not find a way to properly stabilize a patient’s leg. Standard equipment was not getting the job done. Time was passing. The fire department was called to assist, and together we improvised. We modified a splint in a way that no training manual had ever outlined. It was unconventional. It was creative. And it worked.
We were not waiting for better equipment. We were using what we had.
Jesus describes faith in Matthew 17 with an image that is easy to underestimate. A mustard seed. It is one of the smallest seeds in existence, so small that it seems almost inconsequential. And yet Jesus says that faith the size of that seed is sufficient to move a mountain. Not faith the size of a boulder. Not faith that has never wavered or questioned. Faith as small as a mustard seed.
The disciples had just failed to cast out a demon. They came to Jesus privately and asked why they could not do it. His answer was not that they needed more faith. It was that they needed to use the faith they had.
That distinction matters enormously.
Most believers are sitting on faith they have never deployed. They are waiting until it feels larger, stronger, or more certain before they put it to use. They look at the mountain in front of them, the impossible situation, the unanswered prayer, the door that will not open by any natural means, and conclude that what they have is simply not enough to address it.
But Jesus does not say faith needs to be large. He says it needs to be alive.
A mustard seed is small, but it is full of potential. The moment it is planted and put to work, it grows into something far larger than its original size suggested. Faith works the same way. Small faith that is active, that prays, that steps out, that trusts God with a specific and real situation — that faith grows. Dormant faith, no matter how much of it we think we have stored up, accomplishes nothing.
On that EMS call, waiting for perfect equipment would have meant the patient suffered longer than necessary. What we had in our hands was enough if we were willing to be creative and committed, and to put it to use.
The mountain in front of you does not require perfect faith. It requires faith that is willing to be used. You do not need more faith. You need to use what you already have.
Small faith in a big God is always enough. Stop waiting. Start using it.
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Another Well Ministries exists to help people slow down, listen deeply, and encounter God in the ordinary places of life. Through devotionals, reflections, and spiritual resources, we seek to create space for faith to be formed with honesty, grace, and hope.
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