The Virtual Pew Daily: You Can Move Mountains

Matthew 17:19-21 (Contemporary English Version)

(19) Later the disciples went to Jesus in private and asked him, "Why couldn't we force out the demon?"

(20-21) Jesus replied:

It is because you don't have enough faith! But I can promise you this. If you had faith no larger than a mustard seed, you could tell this mountain to move from here to there. And it would. Everything would be possible for you.

A friend of mine from Tulsa, Chuk Cooley recently did a song called Moving Mountains. I have listened to that song, over, and over, and over and over again. Chuk is a little different in his musical style. I would best describe it as Southern Acoustic Rock. We have lived a similar life and my hope is that he will be involved in much of the music for the movie on my life. Let me digress though regarding the concept of the Bible passage listed above.

First, there is an effort regarding smashing or hammering Demons used here and the followers of Jesus, the disciples, have this question as to why they can’t get rid of the demons in the lives of people. Jesus responds with a popular passage about having the faith the size of a mustard seed, if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, (very small), we can move mountains. There are some powerful implications here if we think about it, it is why the passage, and song from Chuk speaks to me.

First, when Jesus shared this there was a mountain the people could see and knew about that was virtually built by slaves of Roman leaders in the background. In other words, they knew that while faith was involved, so was action. It is kind of like the movie The Man That Went up a Hill and Came down a Mountain. It is a story of a town that hauled dirt up to the top of a large hill until that hill met the recognized height requirements to be a mountain.

That is what it is like for many of us, we have to take action to move the mountains that exist in our lives, whether drugs, alcohol, relationships, anger, pride, jobs, whatever the mountain is, we have to take action. While God does his part, we have to do our part. The act of us making change, believing in change, is the act of faith, the faith that if it is the size of a mustard seed, can move mountains.

I learned a long time ago, the challenge isn’t in getting something miraculous done in my life; it is in taking the first step to make change happen because I believe it is going to happen. Faith is getting up when you have been knocked down, not taking no for an answer when you know the answer is yes. Faith is walking alongside your maker as he works with you to move mountains.

Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t mean life and making change is easy, it’s not. There are times the detractors around us bring us down, make things harder, but we have to have faith, we have to walk alongside and realize our creator is beside us to help. Our faith, our confidence, our actions have to be based in what God can do through us, not on what we can do on our own, or on the obstacles around us.

Are there mountains in your life? Are there times the detractors influence you? Are you willing to walk alongside God to move the mountains in your life? Here is what I know, from personal experience, not from reading it in some book or on some web page, but again, experience. I can get up when I have been knocked down, God can and will prevail in my life despite the difficulties. I can overcome that which was meant for wrong or evil, and God can turn it around to where it can be used for good. I know the answers to these things; I have experienced these things enough to tell you it is why I do my best to walk with God from day to day. I fail at times, I get discouraged, but I have seen a little mustard seed of faith grow into a mighty plant that God has blessed and seen value in. I also know this, God don’t love any of us any more than the other, he wants as much for you as he does for me, or any other person on the planet. Personally, I can’t imagine going through life without going through it while walking next to Jesus. I also know some of us need to realize that if we are to move mountains, while we have faith, sometimes we have to believe in our own abilities because of the ability God has given us. That don’t mean it is us…as God is the giver of life, but we can’t forget our own need to be involved in the process. So, get up, walk with God, move mountains.

The following is the video Chuk recently did of Moving Mountains. To watch it, just click on the video, if the video don’t appear, click on the following link:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DZMSSor9PY