In Mark 11 we see Jesus and the disciples going to the temple, and Jesus sees a lying fig tree (the fig trees in that area grew leaves when they had fruit on them, so by having leaves and no fruit, this tree was a liar,) and cursed the tree and told it that no one would eat fruit from it again. Peter sees the tree the next day, and he remembers Jesus cursing the tree, so he reminds everyone about it. Jesus then begins to explain the principles behind what happened. Picking up in the 22nd verse, "So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, 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. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them."
Wow. So much in there. Faith in God is the way we get results! That's what Jesus was saying in verse 22. He continues to tell them how to use their faith in God, "whoever says to this mountain." So notice, you have to do the saying. All the power in the world could be there, ready and waiting to work on your behalf, but it won't work until you speak. It's not that odd if you think about it, even God has to operate on those same principles. If you don't believe, look at Genesis 1, it talks about the Spirit of God, or the Holy Spirit moving on the waters. That means the power is there, ready to work. Notice though, that nothing happened, UNTIL GOD SAID, "Light be!", and then light was. So speaking faith filled words brings results. You have to initiate it.
Natural things operate on the same principle. If you have a fireplace in your house, you can't tell it, "Give me some heat and I'll put some wood in you." No. That's idiotic. The power is available, everything is set up for it to work, but until you put some action to your desire by putting kindling and then wood in the fireplace and lighting it, you won't see any fire, nor receive any heat.
Likewise, people always say, "I need to see some results before I say or believe that this situation can change." Well buddy, if you don't want it to ever change, keep on talking like that. Jesus said we needed to say to that mountain, "Be removed and be cast into the sea," and then he kept talking about saying. Believe what you said will be done, and then you will have whatever you said.
So, when the mountain rises up in front of you, and you don't know what to do, don't just ask God for strength to make it over the mountain. "Oh God, if You could just make me a mountain climber, I could overcome this obstacle in my life. Give me the strength, if it is Your will, to climb this mountain, Oh Lord." You know what that is? Bull! Plain and simple. Bull. Don't ever pray a prayer like that. There is no faith in it, and the Bible says that whatsoever does not proceed from faith is sin! Don't get mad at me, the Bible says it, so I'm just gonna act like the Bible's so.
So what do we do then, when a mountain is in our way? Sickness tries to attack your body? Lack tries to worm itself into your life? You speak to it! You holler at it, "Mountain! In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, you GET OUT OF MY WAY! In Jesus' Name, I'll not have you hindering me any longer! So you get out of my life right now, in Jesus' Name!" If it wants to stick around any longer, start throwing the Book at it, bless God! Use the Word of God! Tell sickness about 1 Peter 2:24, and that you have been redeemed from the curse of the law! Lack, you get out of here, now! Jesus became poor so that I might be rich!
Start using the Word! Speak to that mountain in your life, and watch it move! If it doesn't seem like it's working, it's time to double up!
I'll share a story with you, and then I'll quit. I graduated from technical school in April of this year, and I immediately began looking for a job. I didn't find one right away. Now, being raised in the Word, I knew I needed to find a verse to stand on. However, one didn't jump out at me right away, or in my studying. So, I figured Phillipians 4:19 was as good a verse as any for finding a job, and I went on that.
Four months later, we're in July, and it doesn't seem to be working, but I stayed strong on my confession. I found out last minute that Pastor and Mrs. Hagin were going to be two hours away from my house preaching, so I went to the meeting. Man, I tell you, the anointing was so strong there as Ms. Lynette ministered to us, wow. Anyways, as I am known to do, I began browsing the book and tape table, seeing what was out there. To make a long story short, I got a pile of stuff, and was debating on whether or not to get this one last cd set, Campmeeting Classics, vol. 3. It was a decent amount of money, and I had already got a lot of stuff. So, I prayed, and picked it up, put it down. Prayed. Picked it up. Put it down. I must have done this for almost 15 minutes. Finally, I just went and grabbed it. I spent my entire CVS paycheck (two-hundred some odd dollars) at the table! So, I started listening to the CD's in my car. I went through them all. Then, I got to the last CD in vol. 3. It was a message entitled, "Faith's Corresponding Action," by Charles Capps. It was from Campmeeting 1982. So I listened to it. And I listened to it again. And again. And again. There was something in there my spirit needed, but I didn't know what it was yet.
Finally, after going through it six or so times, revelation came to me. Brother Capps kept quoting the verse where Jesus said, "If you had faith as a seed you would say." That came alive on the inside of me. You know what I mean by that? It saturated my thought process, and me, to the core of my spirit. I knew that was the verse I needed.
So, for the next two weeks, I kept saying, "Jesus said, 'If you had faith as a seed you would say.' I have faith that the Lord will provide the perfect job for me. I plant that seed of faith, in Jesus' name. I say, 'I have the perfect job.'" I did this for two weeks. At the end of those two weeks (not that I set a time frame, this is just how it happened), after receiving zero job offers in four months, I received six in that time frame. Most of them came in the last two or three days of that week. Within three and a half weeks, I had a full time job, paying me almost twice what my job at CVS paid an hour, with more hours and benefits each week, on a much better schedule! Glory to God! Don't come here telling me that this confession stuff doesn't work, you've come too late for me!
Praise God! I'm glad you took the time to read this. Next time we talk, we're going to continue this series, but moving in a slightly different direction, as we talk about Faith Blockers. You don't want to miss it!
