THE MAJESTIC GATEWAY ARCH is located on the banks of the Mississippi River in St. Louis, Missouri. Also known as the Gateway to the West, the arch was built to commemorate the westward expansion of the United States. St. Louis was the starting point of the Oregon Trail. Many settlers traveled this route to build new lives in the Pacific Northwest.
Can you imagine what some settlers thought when they reached the Rocky Mountains? Most of them had probably never seen mountains of such magnitude. At that time, two-thirds of the citizens of our young nation lived within 50 miles of the Atlantic Ocean.
As pioneering settlers began their westward journey, they first crossed the medium-sized Appalachian Mountains. Farther west, some would have encountered the smaller Ozark Mountains. But compared to the Rockies, these other mountains would have looked like hills.
History tells us when some early settlers reached the Rocky Mountains, they wouldn’t go any farther. Crossing those mountains seemed impossible to them. They became dismayed at the enormity of their challenge. Some settled on the eastern slope of the Rockies, and others turned around and headed back home.
Jesus used a mountain to show how powerful our faith in God can be.
Everyone Encounters Mountains
Just as early settlers faced physical mountains, people today encounter figurative mountains: problems, hardships, and impossibilities. Encountering mountains, or difficulties in life, is inevitable. We all come across them. No one is problem free. Some of our “mountains” are big like the Rockies, and some are small like the Ozarks.
Hardships, like mountains, can seem permanent. They may tell us they have been around for a long time, and we can’t do anything about them. And like mountains, they can seem intimidating. But we must not allow anything to intimidate us. No matter the size of any problem we face, Jesus told us how to conquer it.
MARK 11:22–24 (NIV)
22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered.
23 “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.
24 “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
In these verses, Jesus used a mountain to show how powerful our faith in God can be. And the way to move any mountain is to believe in our heart and say with our mouth. We can conquer anything that rises up against us by speaking to it.
Never Stop Talking
We must never face mountains with our mouth shut. When mountains loom in front of us—whatever they may be—we have to tell them what to do. When God’s children dare to speak words of faith, mountains must obey.
The secret to seeing our words move mountains is to never become separated from our statement of faith. The devil will do everything he can to make us stop talking. He knows if he can do this, he will succeed in keeping God’s promises from manifesting in our lives.
When I was growing up, if someone talked all the time, we called that person a motormouth. Anytime we face mountains, we need to be motormouths! We need to outtalk the devil. We have to talk louder than he does and make sure we get the last word. When we do that, mountains will obey us.
God has already given us everything we need to conquer any mountain. The Bible contains verses that cover whatever we may encounter. We simply have to find passages that pertain to our needs, meditate on those verses, and start talking.
Some people learn to live with their mountain. But we must never do that. Instead, let’s dare to conquer it. Take God’s Word and begin speaking to the mountain of debt. Speak to the mountain of sickness or the mountain of condemnation and guilt. If you’re having family trouble, take the verses you’ve found and speak to that situation. Or if you’re unemployed, call in a new, better-paying job. Just keep talking!
And remember—as long as we keep our words connected to our faith, what we say will come into existence.
Commanding Power
When some Christians have a need, they call everyone they know and every ministry across the country asking for prayer. In Mark 11:22–24, Jesus told us we can move mountains with our words. He never once mentioned getting everyone we know to pray for our situation.
Luke 10:19 says, “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy.” Notice this verse says, “I give you power.” “You” means every born-again Christian.
John 14:14 (NKJV) says, “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” The word ask could be translated “demand to be done.” So this verse could be translated, “If you demand to be done anything in My Name, I will do it.” God is inviting us to enter into one of the greatest dimensions of life we could ever know and enjoy. Let’s begin using our authority today and watch our circumstances change!
Author
Kenneth W. Hagin
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