Removing Mountains

Now in the morning, as they (Jesus and His disciples) passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.” So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cased into the sea,’ and doubts not in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.” Mark 11:20-23

When reading Scripture, especially the one above, one thinks of personally taking on the task of mountain-moving. It’s bad enough that we already have enough to deal with as it is, but now the task of making a mountain move seems somewhat unreal and unfair.

Let’s think about a mountain for a moment. Mountains, during the time before Jesus went to the cross, were much harder to travel through than they are today. Unlike today, there were no cars, so travel through mountains took longer. There were no street lights, making it unsafe to travel through mountains at night. Robbers and murderers would hide within the mountains, using them as concealment. The roads weren’t paved (smooth) like they are today but were bumpy and rough. There was no protection from the weather when traveling through those mountains, like we have today inside our cars. Yet when Jesus spoke about mountains, He was including all the difficulties just stated. Now, in the 21st century, when we read about Jesus’ teaching about mountains, we fail to realize a very important point – mountain-moving takes a supernatural action from the Holy Spirit. No man can do it alone.

At this point in His ministry, Jesus was already filled with the Holy Spirit, and everyone knew it. Not only was Jesus filled with the Holy Spirit spoken of in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), but Jesus spoke of it Himself. In addition, many witnessed His spirit baptism when He received His water baptism, which was followed by His being led into the wilderness for a 40-day fast. It was from this mindset that He spoke, saying; “…whoever says to this mountain be removed and be cast into the sea ...” In other words, mountains can’t move without the power of the Holy Spirit.

That takes the stress off us. It’s not up to us to move that mountain; instead, it’s up to the Holy Spirit to move that mountain for us. Sure, we have to do our part, which includes taking the medicines we’re told to take; proper diet, which includes eating the best foods for us; getting the proper amount of sleep, etc., … in other words, following the doctor’s orders. Continual prayer with patience, combined with faith, is also part of the stance we’re all to take.

God didn’t place a mountain (cancer, debt, high blood pressure, divorce…etc) within our path to teach us a lesson, humble us or for a pay-back for a wrong we may have committed. Instead, He walks with us on that path, comforting and supporting us. No matter what “mountain” we encounter, the Holy Spirit will be there with us and for us. We speak to that mountain by praying and mentioning that mountain by name, asking God to remove it. By doing so, the Holy Spirit gets involved and removes that mountain for us.

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