Dear Precious Friends,
What a beautiful new day and I pray you have plans this weekend for Memorial Day and remember to pause at 3:00 on Monday to reflect and thank God for all the freedom we have because of those who laid their lives down for us. We also need to pray for the families of those who have lost a loved one because of their service to our country.
Let's all reach out to at least 3 Veterans and thank them for their service and make sure if you have someone in your life that lost someone, that we all take time to reach out to them via a phone call, a card, a text... It's so important to thank those who will never be the same because of their sacrifice and let them know how loved and appreciated they are!!
So today I felt called to share the truth of this scripture... and how we activate God's power to move the mountains that are in our way that we think are impossible.
Here are just a few of the challenging things we face in life: kids far from God, addiction, divorce, grief from loss of loved ones, job layoff, Difficulty with academics, Challenges in our dating lives, Distance in marriage, Struggling to start a family and infertility, Health challenges that come with aging, Living with mental health challenges, Learning how to age well spiritually, Financial difficulties and setbacks, Parenting challenges, etc...
Facing them can be difficult but when the truths in our lives are met with God’s word, faith is born. (Matthew 26:36-39).
... No matter what mountain you have in your way... remember these truths!
Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:19-20
The Bible says that the way we move mountains is THROUGH OUR FAITH!!! But before we can even begin moving mountains, we must first acknowledge that they are there.
One of the greatest challenges Jesus continually gave his followers was to have faith. He knew that having faith held the power to make amazing things happen.
FAITH: Forsaking All I Trust Him....
What does this look like in our lives.... FORSAKING ALL... I COMPLETELY TRUST HIM...
Let's look at examples in the truth... God's word:
Peter had a little faith and walked on water (Matthew 14:29). A bleeding woman had a little faith and was healed after 12 years of no hope (Matt 9:20-22). A little bit of faith enabled the blind to see (Mark 10:46-52) and brought the dead back to life (Hebrews 11:35).
So how do we move these mountains that look impossible? We go to the MOUNTAIN MOVER with GREAT FAITH!
Our biggest mountains are usually inside of us:
What do you mean? I'm glad you asked:
Fears in relationships, doubts that I can change, disappointing moments when I tried to have faith and defeats in my life that not only impacted me, but also the friends and family around me.
If I am going to let God move these mountains, I need to acknowledge that they exist.
SO my friends, what mountains in your life do you need God’s help to move?
Acknowledging the mountains in our heart is key!!! It can be an epiphany to face this truth! Denial is often our closest friend... Often times, if we don't have faith that these mountains can be moved from our hearts, it’s easier to deny that the mountains are there.
Once again, lets look at scripture and learn of those whose circumstances were impossible... BUT GOD....made what looked impossible be possible! WOW WOW WOW!
The story of Abraham and Sarah in the book of Genesis gives us an incredible example of what it looks like when God does the impossible. Abraham and Sarah were past the age of childbearing, yet God promised they would in fact have a child. Along the way, we see them battling to have faith in God, and Sarah struggled with some denial.
Abraham and Sarah were both very old by this time, and Sarah was long past the age of having children. So she laughed silently to herself and said, “How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master—my husband—is also so old?”
Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”Sarah was afraid, so she denied it, saying, “I didn’t laugh.” But the LORD said, “No, you did laugh.”
Genesis 18:11-15 NLT
Sarah didn’t want to admit that she didn’t totally believe she could have a child, so she denied the truth that she had laughed at God.
HMMMM... Do we ever do this?? What are some things we do when we don’t want to admit the truth about the condition of your faith?
We have to decide not to live in denial if we want to have genuine faith in God’s power.
When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made Father of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, “You’re going to have a big family, Abraham!”
Romans 4:18 (MSG)
Faith in God makes the impossible possible. Abraham had a serious mountain, a seemingly expired promise of God to become a father of many nations. He and his wife were past the age of childbearing and yet, he believed anyway.
Abraham’s faith in God was able to move mountains because he had the courage to turn and talk to God to the point of trusting him to do the impossible.Pause and reflect
What would it look like for you to have a “believe anyway” attitude?
I can only imagine how hard Abraham had to work to keep believing God’s promise over his emotions, experiences, and the overwhelming facts of his circumstances. Like Jesus says in John 6:29, the work of God is to believe, and believing doesn’t mean ignoring or denying difficult facts.
Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.
Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Romans 4:19-22
This passage proves it is possible to face difficult facts without weakening our faith. I tend to believe denial will protect me from discouragement and facing difficult facts will bring me down.
But this passage proves that the real enemy we must resist and conquer is unbelief, not truth. Unbelief makes us waiver and doubt God’s ability to help us change. Truth guides us (Psalm 43:3) and helps us respect God’s power more than our own.
Facing facts with faith is being able to look at them, no matter how overwhelming they may be, and attack them head on because you know that God is with you and will help you.
Facing them can be difficult but when the truths in our lives are met with God’s word, faith is born. (Matthew 26:36-39).
For me, the most amazing things have happened when I let God’s word trump my thoughts, desires, and emotions. That’s the moment when we become fully persuaded by God’s power that he can and will do the impossible. The impossible isn’t always some big miracle. Oftentimes, it’s changing us from the inside out to believe God more than we believe ourselves.Pause and reflect
Once we’ve acknowledged our mountains and faced the facts, it’s time to ask God for help. Some of the most frustrating times in my life happened because I tried to move mountains alone. I don’t like to humble myself and ask God for help.
Some time later, the LORD spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.” But Abram replied, “O Sovereign LORD, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son? Since you’ve given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth. You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.”
Then the LORD said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.” Then the LORD took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!” [6] And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith.
Genesis 15:1-6
Abraham was a man like us. Here in this passage, we see him asking God for help to continue believing his promise. How much do we ask God for help to give us the faith to make things happen? He wants to hear from us. He longs to answer us.
Are we willing to utter the words, “I need help”?
Faith in God makes everything possible. When we’ve done the hard spiritual work of acknowledging our mountains, facing difficult facts, and asking God for help, then we are ready to experience the power of God to move our mountains and make the impossible possible.
Our faith in God unlocks the belief that anything is possible.
I pray we can all take some time today to acknowledge our mountains, resist the temptation to live in denial, accept the challenge to change our faith, ask God for help and embrace the risk of faith. This will be the beginning of the journey of allowing God to develop our faith to make things happen and for Him to do the impossible in our life and the lives of those around you.
LET'S DO THIS!!!
AMEN!
Source: God's word, Holy Spirit, Deep Spirituality devo
