The people of Israel called the bread manna.

Exodus 16:31

“Manna”, the name given by the Israelites to the bread which came out of heaven, means “What is it?”  Though the bread fell on the ground every morning, and the Israelites ate it for 40 years in the wilderness, the name they gave it is the name that stuck.  When they saw it, they wondered what this thing was, as Moses commanded them to gather it to eat it.

They didn’t know what it was, but it was their bread.  Scripture calls it in other places the “bread of angels”.  Jesus later said that He was the true bread that came down from heaven (John 6:41), that whoever ate this bread, His flesh, and this wine, His blood, that they would live forever.

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a bit of leaven.  This leaven, a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, til it was all leavened.

We don’t always have a direct portrayal of what the Kingdom is like.  Even Jesus, in the best description, used metaphor and pictures, using types in the natural to describe that of the Spirit.

This is the perfect portrayal, because we who are used to the natural require faith to see the spiritual.  What we see in the natural then becomes the mode of operation in the heavens, and by that, through the bridge of faith, we enter into the operation of God, having been made righteous by the blood.

But, this faith thing, this entrance to the Kingdom, is a little like that leaven.  We look at it, and though we eat it for 40 years, we can still look at it, and say “What is it?”.  It is this little thing, this thing gathered daily, this fresh word, fresh presence, fresh anointing.  Yesterday’s faith is yesterdays, and today’s is todays.  There is an anointing that grows and grows, and we always go from faith to faith, but if we are simply trying to make yesterday’s do, we will always find ourselves with a jar full of worms, and an upset father.

God requires us to seek Him continually.  We cannot be satisfied that it will always be there.  God doesn’t want us to just coast on some other day’s provision.  He wants us daily growing in the Holy Ghost, as a true spiritual child eating the true spiritual bread from Heaven.

We must continually refresh our faith.  We must continually exercise our spirit.  We must constantly be building ourselves up in our most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.

True faith is a living connection with a unseen God.  Though invisible, like the manna in the wilderness, it sustains our life in the Kingdom.  Without faith, we would be as the Israelites in the desert before the Manna came.  They walked for three days before the food came.  They complained, because they did not trust God as their provision.  But, the Father poured out the bread from heaven anyway, and fed them.

Faith, when we receive it, is often a mystery.  We may say, “What is it?”  But, when we take it, live by it, and depend upon it, it is the connection to the source of our life.

Faith is that substance, that proof.  You feel it in your spirit, not with natural senses.  Though you can discern it, even when you cannot, you can depend upon it.

Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him.

Mark 11:23

Mark two things well about this passage, especially before you let someone interpret this passage into nonsense.  First, it is direct response to the cursing of a literal fig tree and literally watching it wither.  Second, Jesus prefaced it with the word often translated as “verily” or here “truly”.  In the Greek, the word is literally “Amen”.  So, Jesus, in referring to the cursing of a literal fig tree and emphasizing that He, The Truth, is speaking The Truth, says that if you speak to a mountain, with faith and no doubt, that it will be done.

I don’t care if you’ve tried it and not seen it, the word of God is true, and let every man be a liar.  Either Jesus was The Truth or He was not.

The point Jesus is making is that it is not the amount of faith that matters.  Any amount of faith will do.  Just stand on any sure word of God, and attach any amount of faith, and if you keep it free from doubt, it will happen–Guaranteed!  If your results vary, it’s not Jesus’ fault.

You can discern, with your spiritual senses, the presence of faith.  You can discern it in yourself at times, and you can discern it in others (As Paul did for the lame man in Luke 14:9).  It is just that ‘something’, that presence, that substantive thing, that piece of knowing that goes Beyond the carnal mind.

After you’ve prayed a while, you know that sometimes, there is a something different when you pray.  You know when something is going to happen, going to move.  Other times, it’s not so clear, and the results are a little more than spotty.  If we do not discern, let us continue to seek, to listen, to hear.   But we must realize the presence of faith, and know when we are believing and when we are not.  We must begin to discern our faith.

We may, like the Israelites, start out with a feeling of, “What is it?”, but as we become more accustomed to it, we simply relate to it along the verse of Romans 1:17, “the just shall live by faith”.  It is imply what it is.

The point of Mark 11:23 is this.  Any amount of pure faith is enough.  Even if you can’t discern it, just assume that you have some.  It’s much better to start there than in self-examination and doubt.  And, from there, mix that with the Word, and keep the doubt out.  It’s really that simple.  A little bit of faith can go a long, long ways.