Mountain Mover
I’ve always thought I had strong measure of faith – until I come across someone who has more faith than me. I remember when my daughter was small, she would say: “Daddy, is it going to snow tonight?” I would say “No – it’s way too warm for snow”. She would then reply: “But God can make it happen!” At that point, the discussion was over. Yes – God can make it snow. In fact, God can do anything He wishes. Her child-like faith would trump my “grown-up” knowledge and understanding.
Jesus was nearing his trial, crucifixion & death. He was near Jerusalem finishing up His ministry. He gave some practical example of strong faith and I just can’t relate. Check this out…
22 Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. 23 I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart.24 I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. 25 But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.” (Mark 11:22-25 NLT)
I think I have faith until I read this. I often wonder was He talking about literally speaking to the mountain and asking it to move, or was he speaking symbolically or figuratively. The only way I know to move a mountain is with “Mighty Machines” like a Bull Dozer!
He adds one more piece of instruction about praying with deep faith – forgiveness. I learned several years ago that forgiveness was a personal gift to me. Restoration of a relationship was done to me. It’s fairly simple – Faith combined with Forgiveness calls upon the power of God to do ANYTHING! This really blows my mind. I don’t have this much faith yet but I’m sure improving in the forgiveness area. I do want to have “mountain mover” type faith for sure.
Pressing On!
Dwayne