Scripture: Matthew 17:20
Key Verse: 20He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Spiritual B3
Are you ready to move mountains? I hear you asking the question, “Can we really take Jesus seriously that we can tell mountains to move from here to there or to be cast into the sea and it will happen?” The answer is yes, but the real question is what are the mountains that Jesus is talking about and are you willing to do the work?
Yesterday we began to qualify exactly what we have the power to do through belief: things that are about God, meaning, bringing glory to God in the form of either brining people into relationship with God or increasing His children’s belief and faith in the power and possibilities of life with Jesus in the here and now. So, let me ask you a question, would either of those require you to move a physical mountain? I don’t think so, but there is a meaning that has to be contextualized by what Jesus’ listeners would have understood Him to mean at that time.
We started this journey in Days 1-3 by talking about “This Kind” of challenge, which is different and distinguished from other challenges you have faced in your life. Notice the particularity of Jesus’ language, He doesn’t say you can say “a mountain”, but Jesus says you can say to “this mountain” move and it will move. That’s the first point, Jesus is talking about the current challenge or prayer request as “this mountain”.
Revelation has shown me that the key is identifying specifically what “this mountain” is that you need moved through prayer. The truth is it takes some spiritual work, not blindly stabbing in the dark hoping that the tip of your prayer finds its spiritual mark. Mountains won’t be moved, until you are ready to become a spiritual Sherlock Holmes and do the spiritual investigative work to identify what is the source, not just the symptoms of “this mountain”.
I had to spend the time though prayer and meditation to identify my own insecurities, past hurts, and life experiences that were the root cause and source of my present mountains. Let me warn you, when I started uprooting my spiritual issues through seeking spiritual discernment and revelation it was like the underside a rock that was buried deep in the ground—it was dark, dirty, and had all types ugly things living on it. It was a painful process and spiritual warfare was waged against me, but let me assure you the pain of the process was not worthy to be compared to the glory, joy and liberation that was on the other side!
The second point comes more from research, which then led to my revelation. In Jesus’ day, his audience would have understood the concept of mountain moving as a reference to a great teacher who could unpack, interpret, and explain difficulties and spiritual mysteries. These great teachers were commonly referred to as uprooters or one who could pulverize mountains. These teachers were celebrated for their spiritual discernment to get to the root of difficulties. Refer to Day 7 for Uprooting Challenges. Through meditation you can become one too.
So now the question, is “How do I get there?” Think about a radio signal, cell phone signal, or Wi-Fi signal. I’m sure you’ve had the experience with at least one these types of signals. What you learn, is that the closer you are to the source of the signal and the more that signal is unobstructed by physical surfaces that tend to block or greatly reduce the signal reception— the clearer and stronger the signal becomes. In addition to focusing on scheduling and carving out time for prayer, meditation, bible study, and worship, I had to start evaluating everything from the music I listened to, what I allowed my eyes to see, the thoughts I was thinking, and how I took care of my physical body. Again, it’s not quick or easy, it takes time and effort, but I promise it’s worth it!
CPR Kit for the Soul:
- Centering Theme: Sit still and begin to meditate on “this mountain”.
- Prayer Topic: Ask God for spiritual insight to understand the difference between the spiritual source versus the natural symptoms of “this mountain”.
- Reflection Thought: What are the things that may be blocking or reducing the strength of my spiritual signal?
T3 Prayer Booster:
- Dear Lord, please give me the faith and strength to do the work to move “this mountain” out of my way.
- Lord, open my understanding to see the spiritual source and not just the natural symptoms of my spiritual mountains that need to be moved.
- Father God just like I would move to a better place to get a stronger cell phone signal and better reception because I want to hear and be heard by the person on the other end of the phone, help me do the same to better hear and be heard by You.
