MOVING MOUNTAINS 101
No human being ever walked this earth with more power at his disposal than Jesus of Nazareth. He could say to the storm, "Peace! Be still!" and it obeyed him. He could break five loaves and two fish into enough to feed a multitude. He could touch blind eyes and give them sight.
But to look at this man, as he walked the dusty roads of Galilee, you'd never guess it. Nobody understood the source of his power. Not even Satan.
Satan offered Jesus a shortcut to power right from the start.
"If you're the Son of God, turn those stones into bread."
"If you're the Son of God, jump from this pinnacle."
"The kingdoms of the world are under my control. I'll give them to you for a slight compromise."
Jesus turned him down every time … because the Father had sent him here to do one thing. And this one thing was the source of his power:
The cross.
Forgiveness.
"Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"
Every miracle Jesus ever performed, and still performs as you read these words, flows from one source: Forgiveness.
But if this forgiveness is to reach our hearts, we have to let it rule our hearts.
"Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it, and you will. And whenever you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone."
Mark 11
That power --- to move mountains, to heal the sick, to break the chains of addiction --- is as close as your breath as you read these words. All you have to do is yield to it.
It was called The Fortress of Faith. A huge mega-church overlooking the city, with a parking lot jammed with gleaming cars. Dynamic preaching, up-beat music, drew thousands of people from miles around.
They called it The Fortress of Faith because faith was what was preached about, sung about, prayed about. Healing in Jesus' name, signs and wonders, were promised from the pulpit.
And yet, there seemed to be a wide gap between what was promised and what was actually happening in people's lives. Never mind, the crowds kept coming. The Fortress of Faith was on a roll.
And while The Fortress of Faith was up there on the hillside praising God, down in the city, at the far edge of the waterfront, was an old ramshackle house that hadn't had a coat of paint in years. They called it the Discard Bin. It was the gathering place for people who were somehow discarded from the Fortress of Faith.
There was a man who had once been on the preaching staff at the Fortress. But he had succumbed to alcohol, and was no longer of any use to the ministry. Down he came to the Bin.
Then there was a lady who was always sickly. They prayed over her, laid hands on her, exorcised her, but she remained sickly. "It's your lack of faith," they told her. With deep discouragement this woman found her way to the Discard Bin.
Another man who had once done prison time for fraud. When his past became known to the saints, they drew back with wariness. This man could read rejection in their pious faces. Down he came to the Bin.
A young woman who had once worked at a strip club began to feel the chilly atmosphere when the ladies at the Fortress found out about her former employment. She stayed for a while, but finally found her way down to the Bin.
The folks who gathered in that old house had one thing in common: they couldn't make it up there with the happy saints. As you can imagine, their worship had a bitter edge to it. They couldn't seem to forget their wounds which the Christians up at the Fortress had inflicted on them.
So we have the Fortress of Faith up there on the hillside and the Discard Bin down at the waterfront. One Sunday, while worship at the Fortress of Faith was at a high pitch, the sanctuary was filled with joyful song, a young woman quietly slipped into a seat and started to pray. She didn't do anything disruptive. She did not speak. She just sat there quietly rocking back and forth in prayer.
But somehow the saints around her began to feel uncomfortable. This young woman was breaking the spell!
After the service one of the pastors who had noticed the dead zone in the worship came over to her for a little chat. "I noticed," he said, "that you weren't going along with the flow of our worship. You seemed to be in a world of your own. Do you have a problem with our worship?"
"Not at all," said the young woman. "I just came here to pray the Lord's blessing on this place."
"That's very nice," said the pastor, "But did you feel comfortable here?"
"Yes," said the young woman, "I felt quite comfortable."
"Well, " said the pastor, "I have to tell you, you made us feel uncomfortable. Your presence seemed to dampen our joy."
"I'm so sorry," said the visitor, "I don't want to be disruptive. No hard feelings. I'll move on, and pray God's richest blessing on you all as I leave."
The pastor breathed a sigh of relief as she walked out the door.
The following Sunday the folks down at the Discard Bin received a visit from the same young woman. She sat quietly while they prayed and sang and shared their hearts. They seemed to have a lot to say about those hypocrites up there at the Fortress. After all, they'd been wounded by the treatment they had received up there.
But then the alcoholic ex-preacher spoke up. "We can say all we like about those hypocrites up there, but we're not doing too well ourselves. Who can deny that something's missing here? Our faith doesn't seem to be getting through to God. We're all stumbling. Are we any better than the folks up there?"
Then he turned to the young visitor and said, "By the way, Welcome!. Do you have anything you'd like to share?"
The young woman asked for a Bible. She opened it to Mark, Chapter 11, and began to read in a quiet voice….
As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter….said, " Master, look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered." And Jesus said to them, "Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it, and you will. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against any one."
The young woman looked around at their faces with questioning eyes. Nobody said a word. Then she got up and left.
The sickly woman opened her Bible and reread this passage:
And Jesus said to them, "Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him."
"Well, it hasn't worked for me. I commanded my sickness to go away a thousand times, and I'm still sick."
Then the man who had done prison time said, "But what about this?"
"Therefore, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it, and you will. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against any one."
"Whenever you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against any one. He doesn’t say 'Forgive, if they repent.' 'Forgive if they make amends.' 'Forgive if they change their attitude.' He just says 'Forgive if you have anything against any one.'"
"Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it, and you will. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against any one."
They all sat around looking at the floor for a long time. Finally, the strip club girl said, "I know what I have to do. But I don't know if I can. I have to get the bitterness out of my heart. I have to forgive those folks up there. Lord, help me!"
A shudder went through the little congregation. They knew that she was right. They were all convicted.
"How can we expect to draw near to God, when we're burdened with this attitude? The bitterness! Lord, have mercy!"
It was the beginning of a change. The beginning of new life in that ramshackle house down at the waterfront. It was a struggle. They began asking the Lord to forgive their own hard hearts. Pretty soon they received strength to forgive the people who had wounded them. And as they prayed blessings on the Fortress of Faith, their own lives began to heal.
And up at the Fortress new things began happening, as the Discard Bin folks kept praying. Attitudes began to change. The glibness and self-righteousness began to crumble. The life of the Spirit returned.
And it all began when a handful of believers took hold of the words of Jesus and obeyed them.
"And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against any one."
Who of us has not wondered at the gap between the awesome promises of Jesus and the pitiful weakness of our daily lives? He tells us we should be moving mountains, and we can barely move ourselves. He promises us that if we believe in him, we will be doing the works that he did, and we blink our eyes and shake our heads.
"Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it, and you will. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against any one."
The first mountain --- the biggest mountain --- we have to move by faith is this mountain of resentments which have piled up in our hearts. The mountain of unforgiveness. Attitudes which are so much a part of us, we don't even realize what they're doing to our souls.
"O, here she comes again. Look at her! We know why she came today."
"Him! He'll never change."
We keep an inventory of the people who have insulted us, ignored us, let us down, lied to us, gossiped about us. Even people we just don't like.
And then there's this man, this woman, who has caused us so much grief! The very thought of this person makes a chill go through us.
And yet……In the Kingdom, faith and forgiveness always go together. Where there is forgiveness, there is faith. Where there is no forgiveness, no faith. We can sing like angels, pray like saints, preach up a storm. But if there is unfinished forgiveness business clogging our hearts, the mountain will not move. There will be talk, words, emotion, tears, but no faith.
You want faith? You want God to pour faith into your soul? Take care of the forgiveness business with your sister, your brother, your neighbor --- no exceptions!
"Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against any one."
"When you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother. Then come and offer your gift."
Matthew 5
"O, but you don't understand. After what they did to me, after what they did to my child, I could never forgive!"
Time to take another trip to Golgatha and have a good long look. What's that load he carries as he hangs there and dies? Your sin. My sin. Your guilt. My guilt. He's washing it away in his blood. "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."
"Lord Jesus, I don't have it in me. You have to help me. Help me to do this thing you command me to do! Help me to forgive this person from my heart!"
He will answer that prayer ever time. And once that mountain begins to move, all the other mountains will also give way.
The gap between what Jesus promises and what we experience will disappear when we take care of our part of the promise:
"Therefore, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it, and you will.
And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against any one."