Faith That Moves Mountains

When He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to Him, "Yes, Lord." 29 Then He touched their eyes, saying, " It shall be done to you according to your faith." [Matt 9:28-29, NASU]

WOW!!! Whenever I read scriptures like this, it really helps me to understand that one of the greatest factors that hinders or helps us experience the power of God in our lives is our very own faith. There are numerous examples in scripture where people received, or didn't receive for that matter, based solely on their level of faith.Obviously all answered prayers are within the context of God's will. It doesn't matter how much faith you have that God's able to rain down a billion dollars on your house, the chances are it'll never happen. Why? I thought God wanted me to drive a Bentley so I went to the dealership and prayed over the latest model. That's ludicrous, and unfortunately a lot of faith teaching has caused Christians to become materialistic. If you need a car, God will provide through faith, but He's not necessarily going to set you up with a private jet because you think it's a good idea. That's why we need a consistent relationship with Him through prayer, so we can know His will. When we pray His will, in faith, mighty things happen!!!

The basic meaning of the Greek word Pistis, which is translated as faith, is "persuasion" or "moral conviction." It's simply a belief or assurance, and when used in context of scripture, it's generally belief in God and the things of God. Such a simple concept, yet so mighty when we apply it...


Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not drive it out?" 20 And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.  21 " But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." [Mat 17:19-21, NASU]

Just look at the Biblical principles illustrated in these few verses. The first thing most people probably see here is that even a minuscule amount of faith can move mountains. That's incredible!!! But let's back up. The disciples were unable to cast out a demon due to their unbelief (lack of faith). So without faith, even invoking the name of Jesus won't have an effect. Just ask the seven sons of Sceva how that turned out for them [See Acts 19:14-16]. There were whole towns where Jesus Himself couldn't do many miracles due to their lack of faith [Mat 13:58].

The good news is we can play a hand in increasing our faith. First, everyone is given at least a measure of faith, according to Romans 12:3. Then we see that 2 Thessalonians 1:3 shows us it's possible to increase or enlarge our faith. This is wonderful news, but how can we do such a thing? Well, if we go back to our passage in Matthew 17, we see that Jesus said "this kind" only goes out by prayer and fasting. Some people try to say this is a certain level or type of demonic influence, but that's not what the passage says. Remember, He told them the reason they couldn't expel the demon was because of unbelief, not because of a lack of prayer and fasting. So, "this kind" is referring to their unbelief. So, if unbelief is the hindrance or obstacle of faith, and we can overcome unbelief through prayer and fasting, then we can pray and fast our way into greater levels of faith!!!

Let's dedicate ourselves to growing in faith and reducing unbelief through a continual prayer life, mixed with a regular schedule of fasting and the Word. This will help us remain balanced, and pray prayers within the will of God. That's when we'll see mountains move in our lives!!!

Fresh Manna for a New Day

Does anyone else find it unbelievable that the children of Israel could see and experience all the incredible things on their sojourn out of Egypt, yet constantly question, complain, and disobey God? One prime example is when He miraculously provided them manna in the wilderness. They were told that fresh manna
must be gathered every morning (except on the sabbath). Still, people tried to take the easy way out and get more than necessary so they wouldn't have to go through the trouble of collecting more the next day. Well, they found out the hard way that if you're going to disobey God, you might as well, as one person put it, "go eat some worms." [See Exodus 16:15-20]

Really, though, that's the way many Christians treat their walk with God. Jesus said He is the bread of heaven in John 6:33. He also showed us that we are supposed to gather our "daily bread" in His model of prayer [Matthew 6:11]. We understand through scripture that bread is the symbol of the Word of God, so we see that we should daily seek the face of Jesus Christ in order to receive fresh Word (bread) from Him. What He provided yesterday may not work for us today.

Just look at the various kingdoms that Israel conquered on their journey west of Jordan, thirty-three kings to be exact, two on the East of Jordan and thirty-one on the west. If someone mentions Jericho, most people who've been to Sunday school can tell you exactly how that city was conquered. They shouted the walls of Jericho down!!! [Joshua 6:20]. But how were the other thirty-two victories won? Well, from studying scripture we see they were not all won by shouting and praising the walls down, rather, God gave the victory however He chose to do so.

What if Israel tried defeating Ai (the next city after Jericho) the same way, through praise and shouting? I'll tell you, they would have been defeated. Why? Didn't that work just one city ago? The answer is, yes, it worked, but only because that's how God commanded them to gain the victory. When it came to the next battle, God gave them different instructions. If Joshua wasn't plugged in to God, he may have missed God's fresh word (daily bread) and tried to apply an old word to a new situation. Sometimes, that can get us into a lot of trouble. Other times, we simply delay our answer and frustrate ourselves while Jesus sits back and says, "I've got a fresh word for this new situation, but I guess I'll wait until you're ready to come get it." We simply have too many Christians who are too lazy to hear from God, and they'd rather apply a cookie-cutter solution to every situation, a one-size-fits-all method of obtaining victory. But that doesn't work. Victory is only obtained through obedience to God. The only reason shouting and praise worked at Jericho is because God decided that's how He wanted the victory to be obtained.

It's all about relationship with Jesus. When we seek Him daily, that's right, every single day, we can receive those fresh words of life for the new day. We don't have to scratch our heads and wonder why something worked before but not in this situation. Rather, we can get our "marching orders" fresh every day and walk from victory to victory, just as Israel did when they crossed the Jordan. Jesus, help us to get a fresh word from you!!!