How to Move Your Mountains!

I believe the teaching below regarding Mark 11:23-25 has applied the right interpretation of MOVING OUR MOUNTAINS.  i.e.; in order for us to speak to OUR 'mountains' and they be removed so that we can go forward - Mk. 11:23-24, we're to act upon the next verse - Mk. 11:25  that tells us to forgive anyone we have anything against  so that we can be forgiven by our Father. * Please note that it doesn't say 'if anyone has anything against you - it says 'if you have anything against anyone'. Don't allow Satan to drag misplaced guilt into this confession!! Here's the chorus of an old hymn we used to sing: Nothing between my soul and my Savior,  So that his blessed face may be seen;  Nothing preventing the least of His favor;  Keep the way clear! let nothing between.  I'm doing a 'soul search' myself as I want the mountains that I have in my life removed . . .  and cast into the sea!! Each new day is a blessing! Dorothy *********************** If you've been around faith teaching at all, you know what Jesus said in Mark 11:23-25 . . . and you know it well. You've read it many times. You've heard sermons about it. You may even be able to quote by heart Jesus’ earthshaking, mountain-moving words: “Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you,That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; 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.” Those powerful words are foundational to the life of faith. But many believers forget that those verses do not stand alone. Mark 11 doesn't begin with verse 22 and end with verse 24. All too often, we read verses 22 through 24 as if Jesus just rattled them off out of the blue. But that’s not what happened. He set an example that, if we’ll pay proper attention to it, will enable us to get the same results with our faith that He got with His. If we back up a few verses, we find those events began with Jesus’ celebrated entrance into Jerusalem. Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve. And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry: And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it. And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves; and would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves (Mark 11:11-17). Notice that Jesus didn't do or say anything to the fig tree or to the money-changers in the temple the first day He went there. He simply made the trip, saw what was going on and walked away. Jesus must have gotten angry when He saw the Babylonian system of corrupt commerce operating in the house of God! He must have been grieved to see merchants selling sacrifices and other necessities at inflated prices, gouging worshipers who, because they had to travel many miles to get to Jerusalem, had no way to bring what they needed. It was a shameful scene. But instead of reacting to it, Jesus just looked around, walked out and went back to Bethany. Why? Jesus said, “I only do what I see My Father do, and I only say what I hear My Father say.” (See John 5:19, 12:50.) The Father didn't do or say anything, so neither did Jesus. Therefore, He needed time to pray. He had to find out what God wanted Him to do. So He spent the night getting direction and His Father’s wisdom about the situation. He had to receive it the same way you and I do. He had to go to the Word of God which says that wisdom is the principal thing (Proverbs 4:7) and believe for it. Then, once He knew what He was supposed to do, He headed back to the Temple to clean house. Vital Information For those of us who desire to operate in faith like Jesus did, it’s important for us to realize Jesus had to pray and receive the wisdom of God before He operated in faith. And if He had to do that, so do we. We can’t just jump up with no preparation and start commanding mountains to be removed and get results. We can’t just pile up the problems that have been dogging us and, without praying and seeking God’s counsel, blast the whole mess out of our lives at once. Why not? For one thing, they’re not all the same mountain. More often than not, we’re facing an entire mountain range that has been built up over a period of years through fear and unbelief. That range may include a mountain of debt, a mountain of sickness, a mountain of depression and other devilish things. Each of those things must be dealt with individually. When you’re facing a mountain range, it doesn't work to just shoot scattershot faith at the whole mess because each of those mountains has a root. There’s a reason it’s there. Satan will do his best to hide those roots from you, but if you’re determined to remove that mountain so it never rises again, you must find out what caused it. Press in to the Lord in prayer and in the Word and say, “Lord, open the eyes of my understanding where this is concerned. Give me Your wisdom.” If you’ll pray that prayer in faith without wavering, James 1:5 says God will give you His wisdom liberally without upbraiding. That means even if you built that entire mountain with your own unbelieving words and disobedient actions, even if its existence is totally your own doing, it won’t stop God from giving you His wisdom about it. He’ll deal with you in grace, and great mercy. So as soon as you ask, you can start rejoicing and say, “The wisdom of God is mine! He is revealing to me what I need to know to cast this mountain into the sea!” Don’t Try to Shout It Down Since the Word of God is the wisdom of God, the primary way the Lord will show you what you need to know is through the Scriptures. He’ll reveal to you in the Bible the things in your life that need to be changed. By His Spirit, He’ll lead you to specific verses and passages that apply to your situation. When He does, you’ll get excited about it. You’ll get stirred up, and that’s good. But don’t confuse that initial enthusiasm with faith. Don’t just fly off the handle and start shouting scriptures at the mountain as if by sheer volume and repetition you can make them come to pass. Mountains aren't impressed by how many times you can holler Bible verses at them. They cannot be blown away by your much speaking. That’s not the way the command of faith works. Jesus spoke to the fig tree just once and it withered away within 24 hours, because when He spoke to it, He believed what He said would come to pass. Speak to the mountains in your life when you know you can do it with unwavering faith. Take time to meditate on the Word God has quickened to you. Settle in your heart what He has said about the situation. Fellowship with the Lord over the Scriptures and strengthen your spirit and your mind with them. That’s what Jesus did the night before He cursed the fig tree and drove the money changers out of the temple. He spent the night in the Word and in fellowship with His Father, getting God’s wisdom and strengthening His spirit. As a result, the next day He was ready to operate in faith. Reprogram Your Mind Sometimes it will take us longer than it took Jesus to reach that place of faith. We may have to spend days (or weeks or months) meditating and feeding on the Word before we’re ready to speak to the mountain—especially if that mountain is a major issue in our life. Unlike Jesus, you and I are still in the process of renewing our minds to God’s Word. We still have some carnal thoughts and ideas programmed into our brains. We must deal with those worldly thought patterns to keep them from blocking the operation of our faith, and we do that by purposely taking God’s thoughts and reprogramming our minds with them. We do it by following the instructions in Isaiah 55, where God said: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it (verses 7-11). According to Jesus, we take thoughts not just by thinking them but by saying them (Matthew 6:31). God’s thoughts are expressed in His Word, so we take His thoughts by putting His faith-generating Word into our mouths, feeding it back into our spirits, then bringing it back out of our mouths again. That’s the process we use to renew our minds. We choose the Word then decide to think it. We think the Word, then say it. Think it, then say it. Think it, then say it...until eventually we’re speaking that Word without even thinking about it. When that happens, the Word is in our hearts in abundance (Luke 6:45) and we’re ready to speak to the mountain. We’re ready to say, “Be removed and cast into the sea!” Out of Sight and Gone! “Brother Copeland, why do I have to command the mountain to be cast into the sea? That doesn't make sense to me.” It doesn't matter whether it makes sense to you or not. It’s not supposed to make sense—it makes faith. You’re using God’s faith and following Jesus’ example. Those are the words He used, and when you use His words, He backs them with His own power. Jesus knew that if, instead of commanding the mountain to be cast into the sea, you just moved it to the other side of the road or someplace else, you’d still have a mountain. It would still be around to get in your way. You’d still end up looking at that debt, disease, weakness or family problem. That mountain would still be somewhere talking to you saying, “Yeah, I’m still here. Me and the credit-card bills, we’re still here.” When you cast it into the sea, however, it sinks out of sight and is gone. There’s no evidence it ever existed! So follow Jesus’ instructions exactly and command the mountain to be cast into the sea. Once you've done it, obey the rest of the command: Do not doubt in your heart but believe that those things you say will come to pass. The word doubt is the root word for double. So doubt is double-mindedness. It comes from looking at God’s Word one minute, and looking back at the circumstances the next—believing one then the other. Don’t do that. Set your faith on God’s Word and refuse to let the devil talk you out of it. Consider It Done Now, here’s where many faith people stop. They act as if the last thing Jesus said about the prayer of faith and speaking to the mountain was “...believe that ye receive...and ye shall have.” But it’s not. In the very same breath, He went on to say, “And when ye stand praying, forgive...” (Mark 11:25). Because faith works by love, if we don’t obey the command to forgive, verses 22 through 24 won’t work for us. So, before we finish the prayer of faith we must forgive (not two months later after we've worked through our emotions, but immediately, while we stand praying). We must do it on purpose as an act of our will, not because we feel like it but because Jesus told us to do it. We don’t need any other reason than that. Then immediately receive your own forgiveness which is included in verse 25. If you have unforgiveness in your life, deal with it! Call it what it is. Don’t tell the Lord you have a problem with some hurt feelings. Acknowledge it as the sin of unforgiveness. Then go to 1 John 1:9, confess it, repent of it, spew it out of your life and get rid of it. According to the Scripture, when we do that, God is “faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” “Yeah, but I still feel bad about it.” Forget your feelings and believe the Word. God would have to be unfaithful and unrighteous not to forgive you when He said in His Word that He would, so just receive His forgiveness by faith. Thank Him for cleansing you, then write down the name of the person you've forgiven. Write, “I've forgiven So-and-So in the Name of Jesus and I’ll never pick up that offense again. I find no fault in that person. I roll all the care of anything he has done to me over on Jesus, knowing He’ll take care of me.” Then sign and date it. That will help you later when you see that person and start to think about the offensive, hurtful thing he said or did. You’ll remember what you wrote down and your interaction with God about it, that you truly did forgive that person as an act of your will, and what you’re dealing with now are just fleshly feelings. “But I don’t understand why, if I've really forgiven, I still have those ugly feelings.” It’s because your flesh has been trained to have that negative emotional reaction. What you must do now is retrain it. When that old hurt reaches up and grabs at your soul, instead of yielding to it, act by faith on your forgiveness. Then you can go on about your business without it affecting your faith. You can step out with boldness on Mark 11:22-24, say to the mountain that’s been standing in your way, “Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea,” and that mountain will respond to you just like it would to Jesus. . . . .  . It will obey.