Grains of Sand

“ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours ” –Mark 11:24, NIV. This verse is Mark’s version of the verses I commented on in yesterday’s post, you know, the one about throwing mountains into the sea? (Matthew 21:18-22). In Mark’s gospel the verse quote above is followed by another verse that seems totally unrelated to the subject of faith and moving mountains. Verse 25 says: “ And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins .” Yesterday, I suggested that we don’t do much external mountain moving perhaps because we haven’t allowed the Holy Spirit to remove those internal mountains that keep us from being in as perfect a relationship with God as is possible on this side of heaven. Today, while doing some research for an upcoming series of studies on The Lord’s Prayer, R. T. Kendall commented on the passage from Mark that may giv...

“ 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 th...