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One of the most powerful, limitless promises in the Bible is given by Jesus Himself in Mark 11:22-26. The disciples have just seen the evidence of a withered fig tree that Jesus had earlier cursed. They stand amazed and Jesus says “Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive your sins.” (read the entire account in Mark 11:12-14, 20-26.
Sometimes we don’t give the appropriate value and importance to scriptures that seem too good to be true or too large to comprehend, but camp out on these verses for a while. Look at the authority that the Master is giving to His listeners. The first requirement for a mountain to be moved is “Have faith in God.” Our faith should not be in ourselves or even in our faith, but in God.
| GO DEEPER Where is your faith? You may have hit a stumbling block early in these scriptures. If you feel weak in faith, try to determine the root cause. Do you believe that God truly loves you? It’s hard to have faith if you question God’s love for you and His intentions toward you. You may feel unworthy and are not able to receive the truth of God’s love. Study scriptures on the love of God. Ask God to show you any hindrances to your faith. The Greek word for “faith” means conviction, confidence, trust, reliance, trustworthiness. It is confidence in God and all that He says. There are promises for those who only have faith as a grain of mustard. Go to the FAITH page for more information. |
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Then Jesus says “Truly I tell you...”. Whenever Jesus starts a sentence with “Truly I tell you”, or “Verily I tell you”, you know He is making a strong statement, reminding us that He is truthful, He can not lie and that what’s about to come is going to be hard to believe. Then He says something truly amazing. He says “If ANYONE says to this mountain…”. Who is included in anyone? Just the disciples? Just the pastors? No! Anyone means just what Jesus meant ~ any one who will say. That includes you!
Then He says something kind of strange…..if anyone SAYS to this mountain. The mountain is representative of a large problem; one that is hard to move or seems insurmountable. But Jesus says we are to SPEAK to the problem. Speak to the sickness. Speak to the lack.
| GO DEEPER Let’s look at how God has used the spoken word up until this point. When you go back to the very beginning in Genesis, we see that God SPOKE and He created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1-31). God didn’t think things into existence, He SPOKE them into being. Keep in mind that we are made in God’s image. “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Gen. 1:27). “By faith we understand that the worlds were made by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” (Hebrews 11:3). When you understand how God operates and how He created man, it’s easier to understand why God would instruct His children to also speak. Let’s look at more support for the power of the spoken word. |
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“The tongue has the power of life and death and those who love it will eat its fruit.” (Proverbs 18:21). What you say has a large impact on what you have. Your words can direct the results in your life. Paul explains in Ephesians 6:17 that we are in a spiritual battle and the weapon we use to fight is the word of God; “…take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” We saw Jesus using this principle of speaking God’s word in battle when He was tempted by satan in the desert. The entire account in Matthew 4:1-11 shows Jesus repeatedly responding to the attacks & temptations of satan by speaking the word of God. For example, in verse 4 “Jesus answered and said ‘It is written, Man should not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” The original Greek for “word” is rhema which means a spoken word. There is power in the spoken word of God. That’s why we should use scriptures as prayers and pray them out loud. Then you are praying the word of God and are in agreement with what God says.
“Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Jesus says that we are to speak to the problem and give it a command “Go, throw yourself into the sea.” You may say “Sickness, I command you to leave my body in the name of Jesus.” Whatever the mountain, you are to give it specific direction. Then you must believe and not doubt that what you say will happen; it will be done for you.
What is doubt? It’s saying we don’t fully trust God or the authority of His Word. When we doubt His Word, we are really doubting God (“Jesus IS the word….” refer to John 1:1 and John 1:14). You can not separate Jesus and the Word. If you don’t believe the Word, you aren’t believing Jesus. It is possible to have faith in God yet have doubt in a specific area. Identify the source of the doubt. It usually will go back to not fully trusting God in a certain area. One method that helps in the area of doubt is to not consider the alternatives.
| GO DEEPER Study the account of Abraham when God promised him a son in his old age (Genesis 15:1-6). Romans 4:19 says Abraham “not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.” In other words, Abraham did not even let his mind go to the “facts” that were staring at him (his old body). Instead, he only gave thought to the word of God. If you have doubts, what things are you considering that run contrary to the promises of God? |
A Deeper Walk 