I am having trouble understanding what you mean on the “healing amputees” answer. Do you mean that there are degrees of faith? I would think that if you believe that “God can do it”, is that not faith?
Is the faith that saved us different from the faith for healing? Please correct me if I am wrong, this has always been a difficult issue for me. I have prayed for healings and other things and sometimes receive answers, but would say on average my prayers “fall to the ground.”
Yes, I believe that there are different degrees of faith. For example, the faith to be saved was a gift from God (Ephes. 2:8-9) and for some that’s as far as it goes. But for others, as we study God’s word our faith grows (Romans 10:17)
Then there’s the supernatural faith that Paul mentioned as one of the Spiritual Gifts (1 Cor. 12:9) Not everyone gets this kind of faith automatically, but I think it can come upon us in a moment of extreme peril.
But the mountain moving faith that Jesus spoke of in Matt 21:21-22 is available to all who seek it. It’s the faith that comes as we experience God’s miraculous intervention in our lives. The more we rely on God, the more He does, giving us the faith to rely on Him for still more. Any missionary can tell you that.
Like a physical muscle, faith gets stronger as we exercise it, and like the body builder who through strenuous exercise can acquire the strength to pull a train car down the track, we can develop the faith to move mountains.
Most people never manifest this kind of faith because most people don’t fully commit their lives to the Lord to do with as He will. Paul called it living by faith, not by sight (2 Cor 5:7) believing God’s promises even when they conflict with what we see. He did it and look at what he accomplished.