Bible League: Living His Word Jesus answered, "Have faith in God. The truth is, you can say to this mountain, 'Go, mountain, fall into the sea.' And if you have no doubts in your mind and believe that what you say will happen, then God will do it for you. So I tell you to ask for what you want in prayer. And if you believe that you have received those things, then they will be yours.Jesus is obviously using metaphors in this passage. So far as we know, in the nearly 2000 years since He spoke these words no Christian has ever spoken to an actual mountain and caused it to fall into the sea. The "mountain" in question is a metaphor for any obstacle in life, large or small, that prevents you from fulfilling your God ordained purpose in life and "fall into the sea" is a metaphor for the removal of these obstacles, no matter what form this may take or how long it may take. In this passage Jesus is providing His followers with a fourth option beyond the usual three options available to those with obstacles in their path. The first option is to go around the mountain. Mountains, however, come in chains and this option can lead you far afield of your purpose in life. The second option is to go over the mountain. Mountains, however, are high and snowy and this option can lead to your death or serious injury, thus ending or delaying your purpose in life. The third option, perhaps the worst of all, is to come to a standstill before the mountain. In this option the mountain has stopped all progress toward the fulfillment of your purpose in life. The fourth option that Jesus offers is to have faith in God and to speak to the mountain. Instead of relying on the fleshly zeal of options one and two or the dead end of option three, the fourth option brings God into the equation. Having true faith in God, without doubting, almost automatically leads to the kind of speech that removes mountains. The removal may not always be like the dramatic and immediate removal in the metaphor, but the job still gets done. The fourth option is really the only option available to the Christ-follower. Jesus doesn't merely suggest that we have faith in God; He commands that we have faith in God. For the Christian, it's the God ordained way to deal with obstacles. Indeed, even if the mountain doesn't seem to budge, it is still the God ordained way to deal with them. If you are experiencing obstacles in life today, then start to do what you're going to have to do sooner or later anyway in order to remove them: have faith in God and speak to the mountains! Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingExodus 27, 28 Exodus 27 -- Instructions for the Altar and Courtyard, Oil for the Lampstand NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Exodus 28 -- Priestly Garments, Ephod, Breastpiece NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Matthew 21:23-46 Matthew 21 -- The Triumphal Entry; Moneychangers; Withered Fig Tree; Jesus' Authority; Parables of the Two Sons, Landowner NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion Serve the LORD with reverent fear,and rejoice with trembling. Submit to God's royal son, or he will become angry, and you will be destroyed in the midst of all your activities— for his anger flares up in an instant. But what joy for all who take refuge in him! Insight We must surrender fully and submit to the Son. Christ is not only God's chosen King, he is also the rightful King of our hearts and lives. Challenge To be ready for Christ's return, we must submit to his leadership every day. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Psalm 138:5 They shall sing in the ways of the Lord.The time when Christians begin to sing in the ways of the Lord is when they first lose their burden at the foot of the Cross. Not even the songs of the angels seem so sweet as the first song of rapture which gushes from the inmost soul of the forgiven child of God. You know how John Bunyan describes it. He says when poor Pilgrim lost his burden at the Cross, he gave three great leaps, and went on his way singing-- "Blest Cross! blest Sepulchre! blest rather be The Man that there was put to shame for me!" Believer, do you recollect the day when your fetters fell off? Do you remember the place when Jesus met you, and said, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love; I have blotted out as a cloud thy transgressions, and as a thick cloud thy sins; they shall not be mentioned against thee any more forever." Oh! what a sweet season is that when Jesus takes away the pain of sin. When the Lord first pardoned my sin, I was so joyous that I could scarce refrain from dancing. I thought on my road home from the house where I had been set at liberty, that I must tell the stones in the street the story of my deliverance. So full was my soul of joy, that I wanted to tell every snow-flake that was falling from heaven of the wondrous love of Jesus, who had blotted out the sins of one of the chief of rebels. But it is not only at the commencement of the Christian life that believers have reason for song; as long as they live they discover cause to sing in the ways of the Lord, and their experience of his constant lovingkindness leads them to say, "I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth." See to it, brother, that thou magnifiest the Lord this day. "Long as we tread this desert land, New mercies shall new songs demand." Daily Light on the Daily Path 1 Peter 1:8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,2 Corinthians 5:7 for we walk by faith, not by sight-- 1 John 4:19 We love, because He first loved us. 1 John 4:16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. Ephesians 1:13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation-- having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, Colossians 1:27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 1 John 4:20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. John 20:29 Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed." Psalm 2:12 Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him! New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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