Mountain Moving Faith

10May09

I often dream about being out on the streets in a big city when all of the sudden God begins to move big time. People start getting healed left and right or all their sicknesses and then lots of people give their lives to Jesus. This morning was one of those days. Then a thought came to my mind that God probably wouldn’t do it because it would be too much for me to handle. Then the Holy Spirit took me to two different verses. The first was Matthew 10:1.

“He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.”

Continuing to read in Matthew 10, Jesus tells the disciples, “As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” So basically Jesus gave the disciples the authority they needed and told them to go preach and do the stuff. In the same way, Jesus has given us authority over those same things. You might not think so, but remember this was even before the cross. If you don’t think the cross has power this kind of power, you might want to re-examine your faith.

Several years ago I wondered why God didn’t heal people in the US and thought that I would have to travel to Africa or China in order to see a miracle. Then I found out that there was this little town in California where people are getting healed. Not only that, but they go and minister in other places and people get healed there as well. So, although in general American Christians have little faith for the miraculous, there is still some stuff going on. The switch for me didn’t happen overnight. It took months before I started to see people get healed. It took even longer for my faith to increase to where it was normal for people to get healed when I prayed for them.

I then found myself in the story of where the 72 others that Jesus sent out return with the spoils and are excited that they can cast out demons. In Luke 10:18-20 Jesus responds to them with this:

“He replied, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’”

I realized that God just gave me a key. If you are happy that you have a relationship with God then you will see the miraculous sustain. An anointed person is not necessarily a person of character. The people who are grounded in relationship with God instead of starving for power will last through the temptations and lies that come. Just after Jesus was baptized and God said, “This is my son whom I love, in Him I am well pleased,” the devil comes in and tries to get Jesus to prove it by doing a miracle.

So, you realized that Jesus gave you authority and you also understand that having deep relationship with the Lord is key to sustaining a life of the miraculous, but what happens if someone doesn’t get healed? Without trying to create a doctrine on it, check out Matthew 17:14-21. Jesus casts the demon out of a boy whom the disciples couldn’t help. When the disciples ask Jesus why they couldn’t do it, His response is, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

The third key is faith. We can’t believe lies and expect God to move regardless of our unbelief. Sure it happens, but there is definitely a better way. When my expectation was that nobody could get healed in America, I didn’t see anyone get healed here. However, I had so little faith that even a trip to Africa didn’t produce any miracles – although I didn’t pray for anyone to be healed and didn’t need any miraculous intervention. In the past three years I have always seen God move according to my faith. Sometimes I can feel either the faith or unbelief of a person having an affect on what happens, but most of the time I see people healed I had faith for that miracle to take place. It hurts me to see situations where I have faith and the anointing is there and because people have become offended at God they don’t expect anything to happen other than sympathy and prayer. When Jesus went to His hometown it says that the people were offended and that Jesus could not do many mighty miracles there, only heal a few sick people.

I believe that we limit God by our own unbelief and by the lies that we believe. We tend to think that God would not do something that is good because it is easier to think that than be held responsible for answering if nothing happens. It is easier to just say that we don’t hear God than to be held responsible for what He tells us or for continuing to listen until we hear Him. It is much easier to create a doctrine that says that God doesn’t heal because then if someone dies we can say that God works in mysterious ways rather than rather than be confronted with the idea that we need more faith, presence, and power.

Take some time to re-kindle the fire on your dreams that may have been put out by believing a lie. Just repent, change the way you think, and start realizing that God wants to use you in greater ways than you can even imagine if you will only believe. Allow your faith to rise up and before you know it, those far off dreams will be here and now because nothing is impossible for those who believe!

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