How to Move Mountains (or Trees)

“Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.” The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” But the Lord said, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you. Now which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him after he comes in from the field, ‘Come immediately and recline at the table to eat’? On the contrary, will he not say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink’? He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? So you too, when you do all the things which were commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.” (Lk.17:9 NAS)

Lord Give Me More Faith!

Have you ever met a Christian that did not want God to move mountains for them? I haven’t. Why does God seem to move mountains for some but not others? Is it because we don’t understand that the kingdom of God is not about our agendas but God’s?

If so, does this suggest that God is selfish? On the contrary, is it not we who are the selfish ones? Paul wrote that in Timothy, he, “had no one of kindred spirit who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests and not the interests of Christ.” (Phil. 2;20-210) What an indictment of many of the believers around Paul at that time. But have things really changed in this regard?

I know I was always uncomfortable when I heard these words from Paul. My own heart seemed so far from such authentic selflessness. It left me feeling inadequate as a Christian and I wanted to feel good about the person I was. I think we all do.

We know God does things according to “faith,” not by “works.” In other words, we cannot earn the kingdom of God. Nor can we earn the things of the kingdom. How many of our prayers are about what we want or even what we assume God wants for us? If what I want generally lines up with the Scriptures, that must mean God wants it for me, right? Perhaps.

I am sure that I am not the only one who seemed to pray for things that I wanted from God but never seemed to receive. I am a bit ashamed to admit that I got to the place internally where I really stopped asking for prayer because I was tired of being disappointed. I do wonder how many others feel like this. We might even begin to wonder if He even cares or worse still if He is even there! What is going on here?

God Wants Us to Move Mountains

Well, does God answer prayer or not? After all, if Jesus laid these things out for us as in the initial quotation, He must want us to do significant things. He says such when He says, “The works that I do, you shall do.” (Jn. 14:12) .

Verses like this just pass on by and we discount them. Yet if we stop for a moment to ponder this statement, it is actually a pretty marvelous thing Jesus is suggesting. Why does it seem that so few of us are doing marvelous things?

Looking at the leading passage above, we can see a fascinating connection. When the Lord showed me this verse, it opened my eyes to a mystery. What originates in my own thoughts is not the same as that which originates from God’s. His thoughts are perfect mine are not.

Can we really fathom the mind of Christ by human reasoning? Is not the mind of Christ received through supernatural means?

We Are the Problem

We pray for the things we want and for the things we want to happen. What does Jesus say about mountain- (or tree-) moving faith? The scripture suggests that it happens when it is no longer about us, but about Him. Well, we might respond, many of my prayers that were not answered were for others and they we based on Bible verses! How could that not be what God wants?

I think Jesus wants to take us deeper, into the secrets of our own hearts. Can the light abide in us without us abiding in Him? And what does it mean to “abide” in Him, anyway?

Just like a good soldier does not do his own will but the will of his commander, so will we be empowered by God when we are no longer living from our own will but His. How do we make ourselves want what we should want? Can we even know what He wants?

Maybe if we try really hard, we can make ourselves want what Jesus wants. Try for a minute to make yourself want something. I am waiting. No luck? I didn’t think so.

We have no chance in this because we can’t ever really create righteousness (or the kingdom of God) in ourselves. And it isn’t merely an issue of time. If we had an eternity, we would not be able to make ourselves have truly righteous motives.

The Key to Moving Mountains

From Death to Life

Indeed righteous motives – that is, motives that are entirely free from self-interest and perfect love – are only found in God, in Christ. Thus we must die to our own (old) life (which can never have that nature), so we can have Christ’s life manifest in us. How do we die to ourselves?

Maybe the question is a bit like Nicodemus’ naturalistic question to Jesus about being “born again.” He asked, “Does a man enter into his mother’s womb again? This is really a bit ridiculous. Yet we wonder, must we somehow put ourselves to death? I tried it. I don’t recommend it.

Instead, it is the experiences of life that crucify us. Think of the Biblical narrative presented above. We know from Matthew that Peter questioned Jesus about forgiveness, and Jesus gave the 70 times 7 answer. Perhaps Peter was angry at someone and wanted to know when it would be ok to just blast them. Jesus’ answer must have been little relief. Thus the response, “Lord, increase our faith!” In other words, that’s a really difficult requirement!

His Will Alone

The answer Jesus gave baffled me for years, as it likely did the disciples at the time. Yes, faith is the answer but Jesus points to a perfected kind of righteousness in a servant’s heart as the prerequisite for that increase. God entrusts us with power when we are transformed into trustworthy slaves in His service, and not our own.

This is why God always answered Jesus’ prayers – He always was doing the Father’s will. (Jn. 8:29, 11:41-42) He had a perfect heart. These life experiences are made effective for salvation by our receiving the power of Christ’s death working in us through our believing His word. (Jas. 1:21) He cleanses us from ourselves.

Thus it becomes a hearing with faith/receiving sort of thing, just like being born again. God is holy and will not fill the temple without the temple being completely clean. As our old self is being exposed by God along with its self-seeking nature, we are being separated from that old nature.

It is then, and only then, that the new life, created in Christ, can be manifest in us. (Rom. 8:13) The new life is perfect and seeks only righteousness, only the will of the Father, just like Jesus did. (1 Jn. 3:6)

Conclusion and the Next Step

In summary, mountain-moving faith comes only from a perfect heart  – a perfect conscience and perfect motives from God. We are told, well, nobody is perfect! Yes, but He is perfect, and He is able to clean His temple and keep it clean. We are that temple now. He is just waiting for our cooperation in this. It requires our understanding of the operation of the cross in our lives.

One more thing. It is important to note that no one who has learned to abide in Christ this way, lives an insignificant life. The idea of moving mountains is that great things are being accomplished through every believer who has entered into a mountain-moving relationship with God. This is not a kind of significance that is based on the approval of men, but the greatness of the works of God becomes evident in themselves to us. Being aware of the profound significance of what God is accomplishing in your life will be constantly apparent to you.

We have an awesome God who is mighty in power! Jesus said, “for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible to you.”

Do you think He did not mean what He said? What are we going to do with what Jesus said? Are you ready to open the door for these things to be actualized in your daily life? This is not only possible but we are being invited by the King to enter! What are you waiting for? For more reading, see, here and also, here