Moving Mountains

“I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” - Matthew 17:20

Sometimes the mountain that needs moving is inside you

It’s amazing to think about how powerful faith is. Through prayer we have been given the means to unleash Heaven’s might here on earth. We know that God answers every prayer we pray. Mountains move every time we trust God in impossible situations. Maybe you would object - “Hold on a second, I can tell you right now there have been some prayers I have prayed over the years that God has not answered. I had faith just like a mustard seed, but He must have been screening my calls, because I went straight to voicemail and the mountain didn’t budge.”

Let me repeat myself, God answers every single prayer. You see though it isn’t always what we want to hear. "No" is an answer too. If God says "No'' to you, that's just as much of an answer as "Yes." God has the map. He sees the big picture and sometimes in His wisdom He says no. Some days the answers to our prayers are negative and not affirmative, but on those days our prayers have still been answered.

Ok, you might be thinking, “but how do you reconcile that with the idea of faith moving mountains? What about when we're in an emergency and praying for a miracle, and needing that mountain to move but it doesn’t. What about when we we’re believing that God can do it and asking for it to happen with faith and the mountain just sits there. What about that?”

In those moments we are tempted to be disillusioned, but I believe that a mountain can still be moved even when God’s answer isn’t the miracle we were hoping for. While we’re sitting there shaking our heads wanting to ask God why He denied our claim I believe that’s when He is ready to get to work. Only He is focused on the mountain that needs moving inside you. It’s an internal earthmoving project. This isn’t going to be the miracle of Him taking a trial away, but one where He sustains you in a trial He allows to remain.

Paul prayed three times, "God take my thorn in the flesh away. I believe you can. I believe all things are possible. God move the thorn in the flesh." God said, “I could heal you. I could make this thing go away, but there's some stuff inside of you that will never be activated if I don't allow you to live with this.” He said, “In your weakness, My strength's going to be made perfect. You will become all that I made you to be.”

I have found in my life that often when God chooses to not grant something that I badly want, in the end He allows me to be a part of things that I never would have known to ask for. There's a power and an anointing that is released when faith persists in the midst of pain. Peace that passes understanding is a miracle. Being at a place where you should be freaking out but you aren’t, that's a mountain being moved. It’s not as sexy, but sustaining grace is every big as miraculous as signs and wonders.

Going through something so hard that you could easily suck wine bottles dry and pop Xanax on the hour, every hour, and keep the comforter over your head and never get up. I've been that low. I've been so dark, I've had thoughts, "I could just end my life right now." On my worst days I have experienced God’s greatest grace. When God gives you the power and the strength to get up in the midst of grief or depression, or when your prodigal child still hasn't come home, or in the midst of your divorce. You keep on believing, and keep on dreaming, and keep on trusting, and keep on fighting, and keep on going, and keep on walking … Well, that’s just as much of a mountain being moved as when you actually get the miracle you prayed for.