Mountain Moving FaithExemplo

The wrong theology can be detrimental to our understanding of God and His ways. I have heard some speakers misinterpret verses and offer words such as “you can pray any prayer and believe, and God will answer.” They pull this theory from Matthew 7:7, NKJV, “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Jesus did give this truth to us but the context matters. We are to pray our desires to God, but ultimately, we must trust Him with the response and how He chooses to answer. It is so easy to walk in a state of deception with misplaced faith. This is when we choose to put our faith in our prayers, deep desires, signs, and/or ourselves instead of Jesus Christ. 

Mountain moving faith involves us putting our faith in God and His plan, not our own. The morning that I found my daughter’s lifeless body in her crib, I ran through the house screaming “no, no”!! Folks said, “Go speak life over her”, but I knew that she had already ascended to heaven. Days later, I kept praying, “God, give her back, please just give her life”. At that point, she was already at the funeral home. Still, I had faith that although all the obvious occurred that signified the end, I still believed that my faith could change the situation. My faith was misplaced. My faith was in my own power of prayer and belief, not God’s sovereign hand. 

This isn‘t to say that we are to give up and not pray for miracles. I truly believe that God still does the miraculous. We see this in Lazarus' life as well as Elijah and Elisha’s ministry as they raised children from the dead. I believe God did this so that He could get the glory while displaying His power to the unbelieving.

Additionally, I would like to note that God wants us to pray specifically for our hearts’ desire as Psalm 37:4 NKJV says, “Delight yourself also in the Lord; And He shall give you the desires of your heart.” God also desires that we pray persistently as we see an example of this in Luke 18:1-8. The lesson in this is that we pray and believe, but the foundation of both of these principles is that our heart posture should be “nevertheless, not my will, but Yours, be done”. We must place our faith in the power, will, and purposes of God, not in ourselves or an outcome.

Prayer and faith are gifts that God has given us to utilize daily. It even takes faith to believe in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. In each book of the Bible, we see God’s greatest servants place their faith in God. We see this clearly in the life of Jesus as He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane in Luke 22:42, NKJV“Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.” This is mountain-moving faith. Jesus knew what was ahead for Him on the cross. Still, He prayed, “Father, not My will, but Yours be done.” He placed His faith in His Father and He knew that God’s plans would prevail.

My question for you today is, where is your faith? Are you emotionally drained and disappointed because you’ve prayed and believed that God would do something, but He answered another way? Has God given you a promise in His Word but because you have not seen the manifestation of it, you’ve allowed unbelief or discouragement to grow in your heart? 

Be encouraged, God always keeps His promises. I encourage you to pray and ask God to reveal to you if you have misplaced your faith. There is hope and restoration for your faith today.