Dear Friends in Christ:

This month I want to encourage you with a portion of Scripture from Mark’s gospel. In chapter eleven Jesus is traveling with His disciples and He finds a fig tree upon which He expects to see some fruit that He can enjoy. When He finds none He then speaks to tree and commands it to never bear fruit again (verse 14). In verse 20 and 21 they pass the same tree on the following day and Peter notices that this tree has now withered from the roots and they are amazed. Jesus answers them in verses 22-25 by saying, “And Jesus answering them saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

We can learn some great lessons from this story. The disciples are amazed that Jesus displayed such great power over this fig tree and He answers them by telling them that they can do the same thing with faith in God. By the power of faith we can command the mountains that block our path to be removed. Mountains are representative of problems, obstacles, and seemingly impossible situations. But Jesus tells us that we can speak with confidence that comes from faith and see results. As long as we can open our mouth we are not helpless. Too many times we want to tell God how big our mountain is but instead He instructs us to go to the mountain and tell it how big your God is! The first thing we must do is face the mountain. Sometimes it seems easier to ignore the problem but we can’t speak to it unless we confront it.

In days gone by many people sought a better future by heading West as pioneers. The trip was not too bad until they encountered the massive Rocky Mountains. The difficulty that these mountains presented caused many people to give up on their dreams and turn around or even to settle in the basin in the shadow of the mountains. But some were undaunted and persevered until they blazed a new trail which became known as the Oregon Trail. This opened up passage to the West Coast. God never intended for us to live in the shadow of our mountains. He tells us to rise up in faith and boldly proclaim His Word in the face of the mightiest mountain.

Another key to seeing results is keeping our heart and mouth in agreement. Sometimes we know the right words to say but our hearts are not in unison with our words. We make hollow confessions when we do not speak them from hearts of faith, desire, and love. Jesus also reminds us to forgive, which tells me that faith isn’t just about saying the right thing but it’s about living right, too. Our actions must correspond with what our words are proclaiming. Mountains move for those whose hearts and mouths are working together in unity.

Another thing that hinders some people from moving their mountains is just plain giving up. They try it for a while and when they don’t notice any difference they give up. They get tired of saying the same thing day after day. But in case you haven’t noticed, every time you open the Bible it still says the same thing. We should continue to speak in faith because God never changes His Word either. Don’t ever quit. Your mountain may not move entirely in one day but if you keep your faith at work the mountain will move a little at a time.

We can move the mountains in our lives. We can apply faith to problems and situations to turn them around. Don’t become friends with the mountain, don’t get used to it or learn to live with it. Speak to the mountain and go forward with God!

For His Name,

John Merola