And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
Matthew 14:31 NKJV

Jesus uses the phrase, “O you of little faith”. Jesus said this in Matthew 17:17 when He said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?” In Matthew 17 Jesus’ disciples had tried to heal a boy that was suffering from seizures. They had not been able to do so. They asked Jesus why and He told them it was because of their unbelief. He told them that if they had faith the size of a mustard seed, they could move mountains.

In Matthew 8:26 while Jesus was sleeping on a boat and a terrible storm came up which frightened His disciples, He calmed the storm and then turned to them and said, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?”

In Matthew 6:33 and Luke 12:31 Jesus encouraged believers to consider how he cares for the flowers of the field and the birds and encourages them to seek the kingdom of God and assures them they will have all they need. He is telling them not to worry because worrying robs us of our faith and causes our fears to grow.

Jesus said that faith the size of a mustard seed could move mountains, but he rebukes His disciples for having little faith.

So, while Jesus is saying that a little faith can be powerful and can overcome fear and anxiety is a little faith enough? We also see Him rebuking His disciples for having only a little faith. How much faith is enough? Well, I guess it depends on what you want to do with it.

Think about faith as being like gas for our cars or food or water for our bodies. If you were going to drive across country, would you think just a little gas would be enough? No, of course not, you would have to fill up numerous times along the way.

If you were going to spend a couple weeks camping in the wilderness, would you bring enough food and water to last you a day or two? I would hope not.

Yet we face really big problems with just a little faith. In our Scripture passage, Jesus was walking on the water towards the disciples boat. They saw Him and were afraid thinking He was a ghost. But Peter said, “Lord, if it’s you, command me to walk to you.” And Jesus did. So, right here when Peter says, “Lord, if it’s you.” We have some uncertainty. Peter had enough faith to step out on the water and begin to walk on the water. However, He didn’t have enough faith to keep from sinking.

When he saw the fierceness of the wind, his fear overcame his faith. We have to have enough faith to overcome our fears.

We wouldn’t just drive around and ignore that little red light that tells us we are almost out of gas, but we are often content to ignore the warning signs that our faith is lacking. Just like the indicators on our dash like the gas gauge and the warning light, we have indicators that tell us when we are running low on faith. We worry more. We feel anxious and fearful. We let the “what ifs” get into our head and imagine the worst-case scenario whenever a problem comes along. They are red flags telling us our faith is lacking.

How do we refill our faith or how do we make sure we have enough? Start with prayer. When you are feeling anxious give it over to God (Philippians 4:6), take any negative thoughts captive (2 Corinthians 10:5), remember Romans 8:28 and know that God is working this out for your good and His glory. And focus on all the good things He has done in your life (Philippians 4:8).

As we train ourselves to do these things, our faith will grow. Your faith must be bigger than your fear so be sure you have enough faith to get through these tumultuous end times.

Have a great day!