“When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, ‘Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.'”
“And he said to his disciples, ‘Why are you afraid. O you of little faith?'”
– Matthew 8:10,26
These verses are basically two opposite pictures of faith. In the first verse, Matthew 8:10, a centurion has confidence. He has faith that Jesus will heal his daughter if He only says the word. He doesn’t even need to come to the centurion’s house. The centurion believes that if Jesus will just pronounce that she is healed, that she will be. And Jesus marvels… What a word. He marvels at this man and says to everybody who’s following him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.”
Matthew 8:10 & 26 Contrasts two ways in which God can see our faith.
And then in the second instance, Jesus is on a boat with his disciples. The boat’s being swamped by the waves. He’s asleep, the disciples are terrified and they wake him up and he looks at them and says, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he stands up and rebukes the wind and the waves and everything calms down. And I read these two verses, and I can’t help but to think, how would Jesus describe my faith? How would Jesus describe your faith? And don’t we want our lives to be lived in such a way that Jesus would marvel at our faith in him instead of Jesus looking at us and saying, “Why are you afraid, O you of a little faith.”
God, I pray this over my life and over the life of every single person listening right now. We pray that you would increase our faith in you, increase our knowledge of who you are and what you do and your promises and your purposes in the world that we might trust totally in you. When we pray, God, I confess that sometimes I pray and I pray out of the heart of little faith, I pray, wondering almost if you’re hearing or if you’re going to answer. God, forgive me for my little faith.
Matthew 8:10 & 26 Reminds us that our faith can increase.
God, I pray boldly for things that I’m asking for in my life and others’ lives around me and my family and my church and the world around me. And God, I pray that you would give me the boldness of this centurion. I pray that over each one of our hearts and minds and lives that you would give us this boldness. That we would believe wholeheartedly in your power, in your wisdom, in your love, in your might, in your mercy, in your promises, what this whole podcast is built on that when we ask according to your word, it will be given to us.
God, we ask today for faith that is worthy of you, for faith that believes you are able to move mountains, for faith that believes you’re able to do the impossible, for faith that believes you’re able to do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine according to your power at work within us, according to your power at work within the world for your glory.
Praying for the Omani Arabs
God, we pray in faith today for Omani Arabs in Oman and Saudi Arabia, other countries in the Middle East. God, we pray with boldness, with faith that you love them, that you have purposed to save them, that Jesus you have died to [inaudible 00:04:00] them. We pray for the spread of the gospel to them, knowing there are so many challenges to reaching Omani Arabs. We pray that you would overcome all those challenges. You would send out laborers. Raise up followers of Jesus who are spreading the gospel to Omani Arabs. And God caused this Muslim people group who has hardly any followers of Jesus in it to turn and to trust in you. Bring about the faith of the centurion in Omani Arabs to believe in Jesus. God, we pray that you would do that among them.
Lord, we pray that you would do this in the hearts of people around us, in the hearts of prodigal children, in the hearts of people who have wandered far from you or who seem so far from you. God, do the impossible. Draw them to yourself. God, we pray all this and so much more in faith. Even as we close this few minutes in prayer, put on our hearts, we pray the things that we need to be praying for in faith, with faith in your infinite power and wisdom and love and might and mercy. Jesus, help us to live with faith that you marvel at.
In your name, we pray according to Matthew 8:10,26. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
