Mountain moving faith is available.

As a young single mom, I worked two jobs (1 full-time and part-time) and attended college at night, all while having two toddlers. I often, jokingly, say that neither of them slept until they were three years old! I was exhausted most of the time. I battled stress, overwhelm, sexual immorality, depression, chaos, pain, finances, and worry regularly. I was barely treading water. And yet, I was in church every Sunday – clinging to the garment of Jesus, begging Him to set me free from the hard life I was living.

The story in Luke 8:22-25 reminds me so much of that season of my life. The disciples are in a boat with Jesus when a storm suddenly comes. Out of fear of drowning, they awaken Jesus. In an instant, Jesus rebukes the wind and the rain, and everything is calm. He then turns to them and asks, “Where is your faith?” What a profound question! Think about it. The disciples had been walking with Jesus, seeing firsthand his miracles, and listening to his teaching daily. Yet, when pressed with difficulty, they panicked.

Momma, my deepest prayer is that you will be positioned for your faith to rise – to believe God for the exceedingly, abundantly more. It will take faith to believe light is coming when darkness is everywhere. It will take faith to pray for healing when the doctors have given up hope or to parent your children for many years alone. It will take faith to press for the promise in year 99 and to get up and fight. Faith involves action based on what God has told you and what He has already done. Faith is confidence in God’s character that He who has promised will do it.

There are three phases of faith.

The first phase is what I like to call “basic faith.” It is the entry point. It is salvation. And it is necessary! But God is calling us to move beyond our basic level of faith and into new levels. Enter the next phase of faith – growing faith.

Growing faith is what I like to refer to when I think of times when I knew the Lord, but I still trembled in my boat. I still was easily shaken by life’s circumstances. I still struggled to run my race with endurance. I had to evaluate the fundamentals of my Christian journey again and again. I returned to sin more often than I wanted. But my growing faith gave me the push I needed to endure when exhausted. It taught me to suffer well. Those difficult seasons of growing in my faith sharpened me in a way nothing else would. You see, nothing grows your faith like a hardship. Romans 5:3-5 tells us, “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.” We can celebrate the problems, knowing we are growing fully in our faith.

And the final phase of faith is mountain-moving faith. Mountain-moving faith is the faith some of our grandmothers and their grandmothers before them had. It is the type of faith that remains immovable despite life’s storms. It’s the faith that will allow you to stand in the storm-riddled boat and demand the storm to stop, as coheir with Christ Jesus.

An atmosphere of faith positions us for victory. Faith can’t be based on our circumstances or our feelings. Our God will never disappoint us, forsake, or leave us. It is time for this generation of believers to take the reins and lead our children, families, friends, coworkers, and communities well.

Points to Ponder:

• How will your faith grow when you are pressed on all sides?
• Who is counting on you to have mountain-moving faith?
• What example of faith are you reflecting to your children?