Formidable Faith

And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. (Mark 11:22-24 ESV)

I am not a morning person. I’ve slept long enough in between snoozes to to dream of a time-piece massacre. I’ve tried to drag myself out of bed to start my morning at the feet of Jesus, but sometimes I am powerless against the pain of yesterday and the doubt of the night before. They make my comforter more of a security blanket against another day. So, I started taking walks in the mornings with my 4-year-old to help with my early morning struggles, and one day, we found a little treasure. We laid on our bellies and watched a praying mantis scurry cross our path. 

A praying mantis’ small, triangle heads with alien-like eyes, odd shaped bodies, and tiny praying hands are attributes of magical creatures rather than yucky bugs. And with its humble praying position, it isn’t surprising that this little insect has become a symbol of piety and spirituality across many cultures and religions. 

But according to National Geographic, a praying mantis is a “formidable foe.” These carnivores have spikes on their hands used to attack and pin their prey.  Don’t even get me started on what the female does to her boyfriends. They are dangerous hunters and powerful warriors. 

I have decided that I want that kind of faith--formidable faith, which means: “inspiring fear or respect through being impressively large, powerful, intense, or capable.”

Although I bow in a stance of obedience, I am not weak. I am powerful, capable, my faith strikes fear in an enemy that has no chance of victory in his attacks against me or my family. I may look all pious and obedient and submissive in my posture of prayer in the morning, but that time I have with God transforms me into a formidable foe against an enemy that wants me beaten by anxiety, distraction, and sin throughout my day. To the rest of the world, I may look odd in a posture that is holy, changed, different, even “alien.” But I want a faith like Jesus describes when he says, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.” I want mountain-tossing faith. 

I want the same kind of faith the woman possessed when she reached out and touched the hem of Jesus’s garment and found herself instantly healed; the same kind of faith that made a crippled man walk again because his friends “just knew” if they could get him through the roof of the house to Jesus, he would be miraculously whole. Intense faith, powerful faith, inspiring faith. 

So, when I feel powerless in the mornings against the comfort and safety that beckons me back under my covers, I will remember that “[God] has given [me] authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will hurt [me]” (Luke 10:19). I will rise and then hit my knees to ask bold and specific and audacious prayers. And I will know that it is because of my formidable faith that Satan dreads the sound of my alarm clock even more than I do.