Ask and Believe

James 1:6 ESV

Ask in faith used to be a difficult concept for me when I was younger. I think I didn’t feel like I knew how to do that.

I knew mustard seed faith (Matthew 17:20) was all it took but I was overthinking what mustard seed faith meant. While ruminating on a concept can be good it can also mean we are way overthinking it.

Gradually I realized I was overthinking.

But I was still stuck. (I am the queen of “over-thinking”.)

As I grew older I was a little better but then I had my Spiritual Director challenge my thinking. I knew mustard seed faith was all it took. What I learned from this wise director is to think of it in a different way. In other words it’s not that we need more faith, but that we need real faith. The mustard seed is not a large seed, but it is power packed with flavor.

It’s filled with savory rich in flavor.

I realized in my over-thinking about my ability to believe more, I wasn’t focusing on the point, which was God.

Since God sent the Spirit to help us, I asked God to help me change my focus. I thought of the story of Elijah on Mt. Carmel (I Kings 19:11-12) where the prophet expected to find the power of God in the earthquake or the fire but the word of God was not there. Instead it was found in a gentle whisper.

I learned you cannot hear the gentle whisper amid the clamor and noise of modern society.

You must turn off the sound. Then, ASK and simply believe. Remember it only takes a small amount of believing.

James 1:6 tells us, “ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.”

Ever so gradually I learned what real faith IS.

I would define it as the quiet comfort of knowing God. The Spirit makes that quiet comfort ever so possible.

As we sit in silence and seek God, the Spirit comes.

In that moment we can ask for help. My prayer was “teach me oh God to hear You.”

The teaching wasn’t a one time thing, but rather it’s been a lifetime filled with teaching moments. One element remains the same…it needs to be quiet enough to hear the gentle whisper.

In time the Spirit taught how to separate myself from the noise around me by asking God to place an invisible bubble around me. I ask God to fill the bubble with the Spirit. With time and practice, God taught me how to separate myself from the noise so I could hear the gentle whisper.

In God, Deborah

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