Faith the Size of a Mustard Seed

TESTIMONY: May 30, 2023

"He replied, “Because you have so little faith, 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

I want to share a testimony that I have been given permission to share by a wonderful, God-fearing woman named Connie Welch. I tell you this story with a heart that points all the glory to Jesus, not myself. I am merely a follower of Jesus that did what each and every one of us who know Jesus are called to do. Watching God move in this mighty way has stretched my faith, so I felt lead to share it with you, too.

I met Connie at church on April 2. She introduced herself after the service and told me she had only recently started coming to our church. Her husband was in hospice care and wasn't saved. We prayed together, and I wrote his name, Glenn, on my prayer list and prayed over him for the next few weeks.

Fast forward to the second week of May, and she sent me this message:

"Wanted you to know that I asked Glenn if we could pray together this morning and he said yes! We had a wonderful prayer together and he asked me for his “mustard seed “ (a coin I got him when he was in the hospital with the faith of a mustard seed Bible verse in the package with the coin). I believe that God is working!!"

A few days later, she let me know that the hospice nurse had come by and said he might have a week left. The Lord laid on my heart a simple word: GO. I asked if I could come over the next day after church and talk to him about salvation in Jesus Christ. She said yes. I had never done something like this before, but as the Bible says, with man this is impossible, but with God, ALL things are possible.

Scripture is clear on what salvation is:

We are all sinners: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." - Romans 3:23

Heaven and Hell are real places: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 6:23

We need Jesus as our Savior: "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'" - John 14:6

Anyone can be saved: "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." - Romans 10:13

We need to call on the name of Jesus to save us: "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." - Romans 10:9

He is faithful to save us: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." - Ezekiel 36:26

The next morning, I got a message from Connie at 7:30 a.m. asking if I could come now, because she wasn't sure if Glenn would make it until that afternoon when I was supposed to come. I immediately got in my car and drove over there. Along the way, I got lost and nearly ran out of gas, but God carried me safely to their home. Thank you, Jesus!

When I arrived, Glenn was laying in his hospital bed. He was conscious, but he was gravely ill. I sat down beside him and said, "I'm not a pastor, I'm not a preacher, I'm just a follower of Jesus, and I have been sent here with a very specific message of salvation in Jesus Christ."

With his eyes locked on mine, I shared what salvation is, who Jesus is, that we all will spend eternity in one of two places, and that as long as there was air in his lungs, he could call on the name of Jesus to save him. I closed by reading him the passage in the Bible about the two dying thieves that hung on the cross beside Jesus:

"One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: 'Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!' But the other criminal rebuked him. 'Don’t you fear God,' he said, 'since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.' Then he said, 'Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.' Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” - Luke 23:39-42

How incredible that this guy hanging beside Jesus on the cross had spent his life doing all kinds of sin and only had hours left in his life, but he recognized his complete and utter need for a Savior. When he called on Jesus' name in his final moments, Jesus assured him he would spend eternity with Him because He accepted Him as Lord and Savior.

After I finished speaking, I asked Glenn if he understood what all I had just said and asked if he wanted to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He could barely talk, but he muttered, "Yes." I told him I was going to pray and give him a chance to talk to God. He was able to say, "Dear Heavenly Father, I am a sinner. I need you to be my Lord..." before he could no longer speak. He was trying to, but his body wasn't allowing him to speak anymore, so I told him I would finish praying and that God knew what his heart wanted to say.

That's the thing about salvation and the prayer of salvation. There's no one specific prayer you must say to be saved. If you don't say it word for word, it's not discredited. The prayer is simply, in your own words, confessing sin to the Lord, acknowledging Jesus as Lord and Savior, and asking for Him to save you from your sins. Though Glenn couldn't fully verbally speak this prayer, God knew his heart sought salvation.

“I, the Lord, search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” - Jeremiah 17:10

Glenn fell into a deep sleep, so I walked out of the room with Connie. We talked for a few minutes, and I asked if she could go over with him what we had discussed later on and make sure he understood what had happened. The Holy Spirit had truly carried that entire conversation. I headed onto church, and during the late service, one of our pastors, Pastor Josh Cunningham, went over to the house where Glenn had stirred awake. Josh went over with him what we had talked about, and he left with full confidence that Glenn was a saved man. Thank you, Jesus!

Three days later, Glenn passed away.

Glenn had faith the size of a mustard seed. Mustard seeds are itty bitty, but tiny faith is still faith. He had gone his whole life not knowing Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior, but in God's grace, Glenn was spared time on this earth to say a simple, "Yes," to Jesus. His loved ones now have the assurance and living hope that he is in Heaven with Jesus -- all because he called on the name of Lord to save him.

You might think because you're a certain age, you're too old to be saved. Or you might think you've done too many "bad things" in your life to be saved. Maybe you think you're "too far gone." That's never the case with God.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16

We aren't promised tomorrow. We aren't promised the next minute. While there is air in your lungs, have faith the size of a mustard seed and you will be saved.

"Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him, because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over Him. For in light of the fact that He died, He died to sin once for all; but in light of the fact that He lives, He lives to God. So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."- Romans 6:8-11