Lord Jesus is the Living Word that became flesh and in the process of creation the light of the Word worked with the power of the Holy Spirit to make everything happen. This same principle is applicable today as it was then and when we pray under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and in line with the Word of God, answers surely come. What should be the way of life of an individual living in this manner?
Treasons for lack in a believer’s life – Mark 11 explains a situation in which Lord Jesus seeks fruit from a fig tree to satiate his hunger while moving from Bethany to Jerusalem. Bethany was the place of Lazarus and his sisters, and others who were followers of the Lord, and His being hungry in the morning to seek fruit of the fig tree raises questions. It was always the practice of the Son of God to go into a secluded place, like the Gethsemane Park, very early in the morning to pray, especially before an important event. The last week of His stay on the earth was one such period of intense activity and He is likely to have moved directly from the place of prayer to Jerusalem causing Him to be hungry.
When the disciples saw the next day the fig tree withered from the roots, they pointed it out to the Lord (Mark 11:21-24). Lord Jesus then taught them the action and result of faith by saying, ‘whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says’. Normally when someone does not receive an answer to his prayers, everyone starts telling him about his lack of faith. Lord Jesus, however, has listed out different aspects of receiving an answer in addition to faith. The first is to speak to the mountain, while most of us keep on speaking to the Lord to act and help out.
The Israelites faced the Red Sea in front and the Egyptian army behind, with no chance of escape and they cried out to the LORD (Exodus 14:15-16). The LORD said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry out to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea’. God has equipped us in every way to move forward in victory just like Adam and Eve were blessed to ‘dominate and subdue the earth’. Because we keep on listening to the lies of the devil about our incapacity to be able to get the results, we keep on seeking the intervention of the Lord from heaven. Lord Jesus ‘was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God’ (Mark 16:19). King David had prophesied about the same fact, ‘The LORD said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make your enemies Your footstool’ (Psalm 110:1). Lord Jesus is seated in rest in heaven, in His finished work on the cross, and intercedes for us to equip us for the battles daily.
The second aspect of moving the mountain is to ‘believe and not doubt’ in the heart. The Greek word ‘diakrino’ has two words, ‘dia’ meaning ‘thoroughly back and forth’ and krino meaning ‘to judge’. The word means ‘over-judging, vacillating, doubting or wavering’ and is about continuously thinking about a matter about its probable fulfilment while also assessing the chances of failure. Invariably we continue to remain focussed on the problem which creates doubts about its resolution and then like Jacob wrestling with ‘the Man’ also wants Him to bless us. The problem eventually cripples us rather than moving out of our way.
Legend has it the Red Sea did not part after Moses had struck it with his staff and only a young man Nahshon, out of all the Israelites, stepped forward in faith. It was only when he continued to move ahead and waters were about to drown him, that the Red Sea parted and the others followed through and crossed. We have been filled with power and authority by Lord Jesus Himself, ‘to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you’ (Luke 10:19). This authority is given to everyone who believes and submits to Lord Jesus as his Saviour but most believers lack the faith and look towards others to pray for them.
Lord Jesus called out in the Synagogue a woman suffering for 18 years from a bent back and she was ‘loosed from her infirmity’ (Luke 13:11-13). Immediately after He touched her, she was made straight and ‘glorified God’. Lord Jesus answered the cry of the ten lepers and only one returned back to thank Him for the healing (Luke 17:12-16). Either we do not believe or we want to receive the blessing with no desire to glorify God for that and because of our attitude, after a while we land up in some other situation. The Lord keeps knocking at the door of our hearts and we refuse to grant Him entry and submit to His authority (Revelation 3:20). The problems keep coming again and again and we blame God for that.
Recognizing the real mountain blocking our way – The father of the deaf and mute boy understood the reason for his son not getting healed and cried out to Lord Jesus, ‘Lord, I believe; help my unbelief’ (Mark 9:24). We hear the Word being preached but rarely comprehend the message fully, for our focus keeps shifting to many other issues of life. The command to the Israelites was ‘Hear, O Israel’ and the Hebrew word ‘shemah’ in its full meaning is to ‘hear, pay attention, understand and act upon it’ (Deuteronomy 6:4). When Israel ‘shemah’ the directions of God, they obey and act upon them. On the other hand when God hears the pleas of Israel in bondage, He acts upon their prayers and rescues them In the age of instant gratification the focus is on immediate results. The general attention span of an individual towards something is ten seconds and all advertisements are planned with this in mind. People tend to shift their focus on other things and rarely continue to hear, understand and obey.
The second is looking without and not within – The founder of YWAM, a Christian Youth forum would visit the local group facing any difficult situation in any country and join them for a day of fasting and prayer. The group would pray to God to teach them the lesson that they must learn to bring about a change in the situation and through that in their own personal conduct. Eve blamed the serpent for her sin, saying, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate’, while the desire was in her which she failed to suppress when ‘she saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise’ (Genesis 3:13 & 6). The mountain is mostly within us affecting our behaviour towards each other and towards God also and we rarely identify that to cast it out.
The woman with the blood flow for 12 years heard about Lord Jesus, she came and touched His garment and was immediately healed of her affliction (Mark 5:25-28). Prior to touching, she said to herself, ‘If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well’. The Greek word ‘lego’ means ‘speak in progress’ and she kept repeatedly saying this to herself to strengthen her faith. When we speak something, there are at least three persons listening in; first is God, for He loves us. This Scripture reveals one part of our relationship with God, for He has said, ‘Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me’ (Isaiah 49:16). So God is always attentive to what we speak. Secondly, the devil is interested in leading us astray and his demons are always listening in to exploit what we speak. Thirdly, we also hear what we speak and since ‘Death and life are in the power of the tongue’, our body responds to what we speak (Proverbs 18:21). The woman with the blood flow kept on repeatedly saying this to herself that her healing was definitely ensured through her touching merely the garments of Lord Jesus. The blessing was received and her body responded in obedience.
The man with infirmity for thirty years, lying at the pool Bethesda, was commanded by Lord Jesus, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’ (John 5:7-8). He had to move the mountain of his attitude of seeking someone to put him into the pool first and only then could he receive the healing. Identifying the mountain that hinders my being useful to someone is the most important part, for The Lord God desires us to be a channel of blessing to others like His Own Son came to be. Some blessing that has limited potential to be useful beyond my own personal gain will have less motivation for me. Many seek and become wealthy and successful but after a while that starts losing its value and we start seeking other mountains to climb or move.
The next is the mountain of fear and this paralyses us from doing what we must, for fear of failure, rejection, being misunderstood, being incapable of fulfilling the mission or lack of adequate resources, to just name a few. All the disciples saw Lord Jesus walking on the water towards them; heard His words, ‘It is I, do not be afraid’, but it was only Apostle Peter who dared to say, ‘Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on water’ (Matthew 14:25-30). He obeyed the Lord, stepped out of the safety of the boat and walked on water.
Apostle Paul identified another mountain of hatred and not loving others that prevents us from receiving and being a blessing to others. He has taught, ‘though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, it profits me nothing’ (1 Corinthians 13:2). Lord Jesus understood the need of the Samaritan woman and others in her village and He decided to take that route on His way to Galilee, a route that was avoided by the Jews.It was His love for others that ‘He needed to go through Samaria’ and speak to the woman on the well (John 4:4). If we want to be like our Saviour, we must have love for others as the predominant emotion in our lives.
Most believers have full faith in the truth of the Word of God, however, Prophet Hosea was told by the LORD, ‘My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge’ (Hosea 4:6). The Hebrew word ‘damah’ means to ‘cease, destroy, silenced’ and believers perish for they are silenced by the devil in their ignorance. As a result they are unable to speak to their mountain and get relief in the power of God’s Word.
Reasons for no change in our situation – The three basic factors that prevent us from stepping forward and claiming our blessings are, firstly, sins that are deep rooted and cause difficulty in changing; second, fear of something or someone that stops us in our tracks and finally, life challenges, especially in our horizontal relationships with others that leave us with little or no strength to change.
The four ways to step into a blessed state and remove the obstacles to that path – First, examine and ask yourself for the Scripture says, ‘Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the LORD’ (Lamentations 3:40). We must speak to our own spirit and soul to motivate ourselves to move in obedience to the Word of God and turn back from our sinful habits.
Second, Ask God in prayer as King David occasionally sought God by crying out in prayer, ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting’ (Psalm 139:23). The love of God as expressed in His Son as the Messiah was revealed not ‘to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved’ (John 3:17).
Three, Ask and seek God’s guidance in His Word – Apostle James has clearly taught, ‘lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the Word and not hearers only’ (James 1:21-22). We cannot choose to obey only those commands in God’s Word that suit our ways but our listening to His Word must be to understand and obey fully.
Four, Ask others – ‘Your eyes shall see your teachers. Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, ‘this is the way, walk in it’, whenever you turn to the fight hand or whenever you turn to the left’ (Isaiah 30:20-21). God created woman as an ‘Ezer kenegdo’ and it has been translated as helpmeet, as if she was supposed to be an assistant to man. King David has said, ‘He (Jehovah) is our help and our shield’ and the Hebrew words are ‘Yahweh ezer’ (Psalm 33:20). Surely God is not going to be an assistant to anyone. A woman was created by God to be ‘ezer’ meaning ‘to rescue or be strong’ and she is to be man’s strength as also to oppose him when he goes the wrong way. How many men are willing to accord this status to their wives? To do so is considered a weakness and there are many Jewish sages who did this and achieved great spiritual heights.
The mountains that we face are mostly about our society, ‘what will others think? Because of this most people keep their questions buried deep within and never clarify their doubts. Apostle Thomas, the one who came to India with the Gospel, is termed as ‘Doubting Thomas’ for he refused to believe the other disciples’ report of Lord Jesus’ resurrection. For he said, ‘Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe’ (John 20:25-28). But he did not hesitate to speak his ignorance before the Lord to say, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going, and how can we know the way’ (John 14:5-6). It was in answer to his question that Lord Jesus made that great and wonderful revelation, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’.
God is love and in His heart all thoughts are of people, His creation and the defined role of the indwelling Holy Spirit is, ‘He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you’ (John 14:26). Are we ready to set aside our biggest mountain of hesitation and seek a brother or a sister in the church to be your ezer, to lead you into spiritual strength?.
The mountains creating obstacles in our paths are not external but within us but we remain focussed on whatb is visible and tend to ignore the spiritual reasons behind those. The help required to remove thse mountains has also been given to us by God and this may be in the form of the wife or a teacher. The real task is to identify the reality of the mountain facing us and then it is an easy task to get rid of it for our loving Father is ever ready to help us.
