Mountain Moving Faith
“Jesus replied, ‘I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, Go throw yourself into the sea, and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer” –Matthew 21:21, NIV.
I looked at these verses with slightly different eyes this morning. I suppose that’s because a passage from Mark Buchanan’s book Hidden in Plain Sight, is still stuck in my head. He was writing about Samson and remarked that Samson used the power of the Spirit of God to defeat the Philistines who had invaded God’s Promised Land, but he ignored that same Spirit when it came to defeating the “Philistines” in his heart. His pride and lust killed him long before the Philistines captured him and put him in chains.
When we look at the verses from Matthew we often think of physical “mountains” that we’d like to have faith enough to remove. But if you are like me it is not often we think about the spiritual mountains in our lives that need to be eradicated. The fears and worries, that temper, the pride, the insecurities, the past hurts, the habits only God can remove but require us to exercise faith and ask Him to bring into the bulldozer.
It doesn’t sound like this is a process either. It sounds instantaneous. Believe, ask for it, and “it will be done” says Jesus.
I have a friend who is now just over three months into her battle with giving up smoking. It hasn’t been easy to break the habit of a lifetime. She counts on God one day at a time to give her strength to resist the “cancer stick.” Her faith depends on God’s strength to remove her weakness. I have another friend who asks for prayer to give up that same habit, but her faith in God’s power to empower her isn’t strong enough for her to actually throw the cigarettes away. It is easier to ask for that physical mountain to move because it doesn’t involve any action on our part. When it comes to asking God to remove those “mountains” that cause us to stumble in our spiritual journeys and require us to do more than just ask but to also act, then things get complicated.
Perhaps that was Samson’s problem. It was easier to kill men than it was to kill habits, easier to control others than to control himself. What a sad waste of a man it turned out to be. What a sad waste it is when we cripple ourselves and our service to Christ when we don’t exercise the faith to deal with our internal mountains before trying to deal with the external ones.
Perhaps that’s why our external ones won’t move.
I looked at these verses with slightly different eyes this morning. I suppose that’s because a passage from Mark Buchanan’s book Hidden in Plain Sight, is still stuck in my head. He was writing about Samson and remarked that Samson used the power of the Spirit of God to defeat the Philistines who had invaded God’s Promised Land, but he ignored that same Spirit when it came to defeating the “Philistines” in his heart. His pride and lust killed him long before the Philistines captured him and put him in chains.
When we look at the verses from Matthew we often think of physical “mountains” that we’d like to have faith enough to remove. But if you are like me it is not often we think about the spiritual mountains in our lives that need to be eradicated. The fears and worries, that temper, the pride, the insecurities, the past hurts, the habits only God can remove but require us to exercise faith and ask Him to bring into the bulldozer.
It doesn’t sound like this is a process either. It sounds instantaneous. Believe, ask for it, and “it will be done” says Jesus.
I have a friend who is now just over three months into her battle with giving up smoking. It hasn’t been easy to break the habit of a lifetime. She counts on God one day at a time to give her strength to resist the “cancer stick.” Her faith depends on God’s strength to remove her weakness. I have another friend who asks for prayer to give up that same habit, but her faith in God’s power to empower her isn’t strong enough for her to actually throw the cigarettes away. It is easier to ask for that physical mountain to move because it doesn’t involve any action on our part. When it comes to asking God to remove those “mountains” that cause us to stumble in our spiritual journeys and require us to do more than just ask but to also act, then things get complicated.
Perhaps that was Samson’s problem. It was easier to kill men than it was to kill habits, easier to control others than to control himself. What a sad waste of a man it turned out to be. What a sad waste it is when we cripple ourselves and our service to Christ when we don’t exercise the faith to deal with our internal mountains before trying to deal with the external ones.
Perhaps that’s why our external ones won’t move.
"...exercise the faith..." is the key, and who likes to exercise?
ReplyDeleteExercise is hard work, and I for one don't like it. ; )
*sigh* Such a truth to be reminded of. Thank you. (I think!) lol
Love,
Pat
So thought-provoking, Lynda. Changing ourselves IS so hard. Gotta work on those inside mountains.
ReplyDeleteEasier to kill men than habits--isn't that the truth sometimes. Excellent thoughts to ponder.
ReplyDelete