Why Some Believers Don't Move Mountains

Many believers will be conversant with the story of Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. He was there with Peter, James and John. While he was away, the other disciples were together in the same location, waiting for their master to return. Suddenly, a man came to them with his deaf and dumb son, who was obviously possessed by a demon. The disciples all took turns to pray for this boy, but they could not cast out the demon in him. They told his father to wait for the Lord’s return because it seemed to them that only the Lord could heal that young man.

Eventually, Jesus arrived and prayed for the young man. The demonic spirit in him shook him, hurled him to the ground, and left. The boy was set free!

The disciples were puzzled. How come Jesus was able to cast out that evil spirit, while they could not? They summoned courage and asked Jesus this question. Jesus replied that they couldn’t cast out that spirit because of their unbelief.

(And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you.)

Unbelief here is obviously not about believing in God or in Jesus Christ. It was about believing in themselves. Allowing their minds to agree with their spirit that they can do the impossible effortlessly. This is key to walking in the supernatural.

Many believers believe in God, they believe in Jesus, but they have no belief in themselves.

You hear them say “I am nothing but dung, I have no power of my own, I cannot do anything because I am a mere human. They think sounding like this is what makes them humble and acceptable to God. They are very deep in religion and it’s a form of godliness, but they have nothing but empty words to show for it. Such believers are missing a fundamental step in the evolution of the new creation. By not believing in themselves, they give the Holy Spirit no room, to showcase who He is and What He can do through them

Ephesians 2:10 AMPC “For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].”

One of the biggest truths ever to be communicated to us from the Word of God is that as individuals, we’re God’s own handiwork. We’re His reproduction, His perfectly crafted, excellently created masterpieces. When you know this, you’ll believe in and value yourself more. This is the reason you should never think failure! God has never made a failure; therefore, you should not fail. You’re created for success and a good life.

Sickness, poverty, disease, death and the down-life are not consistent with your true nature and identity. Therefore, never condescend to their level. God made you for His glory; you’re a wonder—a product of divine orchestration and a miracle happening everywhere you go! You’re God’s dream come true; so, never look down on yourself.

It doesn’t matter what others call you; what matters is what you call yourself, based on what God has said about you. He’s made you rich, healthy, victorious, super-intelligent and influential. Therefore, say, “Yes, Lord, I am what you say I am. I believe in what you’ve made me to be. I believe in my prosperity, health, success, promotion and increase. I see myself making progress and moving forward.”

You’re God’s best. God gave birth to you in order to show you off as the crown of all His creation (James 1:18 MSG). You’re first-class of all His creation, called to display His virtues and perfections. Therefore, see the future, and see your greatness! See God using you to do great and mighty things and touching lives all over the world. You were made for His glory and perfected for the good life—see yourself that way and believe in yourself.

Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you…? (2 Corinthians 13:5).

Everyone is the expression of what he or she believes. Your daily life is the loudest voice that gives expression to your belief. As a Christian, therefore, it’s easy for you to review what you truly believe and determine whether or not you’re living the authentic Christian life by examining yourself and your actions.

Turn the searchlight on yourself. Ask yourself, “What kind of life am I living?” “What have I been like?” “Am I expressing the love of Christ in truth?” “Has the Word affected my communication, to manifest the Kingdom of God in humility and in righteousness?” You need to ponder on such thoughts from time to time as you evaluate your life with the sole purpose of building and maintaining an excellent character. Be sure that you’ve been putting the Word to work in your personal life. Be sure that your will and emotions are always yielded to the Lordship of the Word.

Be sure that you’re a man or woman of your words. Put yourself to the test and constantly evaluate your life and actions with the Word, to be sure that you’re living in faith.

There’re lots of people who have never taken the time to look at themselves. Now, I’m not talking about looking at oneself in a mirror. I mean they don’t have moments of personal reflection where they truly assess themselves. It’s something you have to do occasionally, measuring your personal growth and progress in life, with and through the Word. You don’t need someone else to do that for you.

Think about yourself. Who are you? What do you really think about the message of salvation, health, prosperity, and love that you’ve received? Are you still dominated by fear, jealousy, and pride? Are you one who gets angry, and it only takes the power of God to tame you?

Evaluate your life with the Word today. Prove yourself with the Word. The Word of God is the infallible material to you from God to transform your life from glory to glory. It’s what you need to cultivate an excellent life and character: a character of love, kindness, purity, grace and mercy. Build your life with it.

Someone once said, “I’ve never seen anybody move a mountain with faith; was Jesus just using symbolism or did He mean what He said in Mark 11:22-23? Can you really command a mountain to move?”

Yes, Jesus meant it. But Jesus wasn’t talking about a game. He wasn’t saying that we go out in the street and say, “I’m here to show you how powerful I am”; then you start commanding mountains and buildings to move. No!

The question is, why would you want to move a physical mountain; to what intent and purpose? Our faith is always connected to our needs. If there’s no need for it, there’ll be no faith in doing it. So, you may find yourself trying to make something happen that’ll not happen because there’s no need to activate faith in the first place.

Faith is activated only when there’s a need for it. When you find yourself in a situation and you have a “need,” don’t despair; that need will activate your faith. It’s like the woman who was told she’d never be able to get pregnant. That news activated her faith, and soon enough, she had her baby. Until she heard that she would never have a baby, she didn’t know she could have one with her faith.

The same can be said of the fellow who was healed of cancer; he didn’t know he could make it happen until he was told he had only one month to live. The news triggered his faith, and he began to declare, “I shall not die but live,” and indeed, he was healed. Hallelujah!

Never be overwhelmed with your need; rather, let your needs connect to your faith. Let your needs excite you. Once you connect to a need, that’s your opportunity to overwhelm your need with your faith.

One of the most common responses I hear (and experience myself) after a breakthrough encounter with the Lord is, “This is wonderful and feels so freeing, but can I really do it?” The need for confidence that you “have what it takes” to carry out what you received is real, although the premise of the question may not be. Here are some ideas that can help us overcome self-doubt so we can live fully in the revelation of our true identity.

Often when we feel overwhelmed about living out something new, it’s because we’re focused on what it is we need to be doing. We get trapped in our minds trying to figure out how to work that all out because we “don’t know how.” With our brains stuck in a wad, the feeling that change is too hard is sure to follow. The chain of occurrences I’m laying out below reveals that the true challenge isn’t that we don’t know what to do or how to do it, but that doing is the wrong place to start. Confidence won’t be gained through what we do, or how we’re perceived by others as we do it. Confidence is an inside job. It begins in our minds.

Paul showed us this key in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

To create a new pattern, or habit, of acting and speaking confidently in your newly revealed identity you will want to back track to the beginning of the chain. Shift your focus by deciding to believe in you – the true you that Jesus just revealed to you. This is the key to maturing into the full expression of that aspect of yourself. When you believe in you, your thoughts will tend to be empowering, which will give you feelings that are positive -- even joyful, leading to choices that bring words and actions that support the true you. With practice, this will become your new pattern, or habit of living. That’s the kind of confidence that will remain strong and stable no matter how anyone else responds. That’s the kind of confidence Jesus walked in regardless of anything else, and it’s available for you too!

The Chain of Transformed Living =Belief – Thoughts – Feelings – Choices -- Actions/Words (i.e. doing) – Habits/Pattern

(What you believe will determine the thoughts you are thinking. What you think about determines how you feel. The choices you make and actions you take will be created out of the emotion you are experiencing. Over time this becomes a new normal pattern or habit.)

To set yourself up for successfully believing in you, start by accepting self-doubt (the questioning if you can do this) as normal. If doubt is present, it’s just a messenger that potential is there, and you are ready to bloom in this area of your life. Rather than fighting or resisting it, embrace self-doubt as a friend that can give you compassion for yourself and others as you go forward. Through the power of the cross you can convert doubt into confidence/Godfidence that you have everything you need in your oneness with God to be transformed. You’re not doing life on your own anymore. Jesus fills in all the gaps to empower and perfect you. And now rather than striving to do things to perfect the new you, you start believing you are perfect and get to have fun practicing being the new you. (Perfect makes practice … fun!)

One of the most effective ways to practice believing in you is starting with the clean slate when you first wake up in the morning. Before you pick up your phone or put your feet on the floor, allow yourself to engage with Holy Spirit in renewing your mind. Let go of all former perceptions and patterns of thought you used to have about yourself and let yourself go into a new place with Him. Here you can imagine and create with Him what it’s like to be the true you. Let yourself be curious. Enjoy just hanging out with Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit. Here are some questions you can ask as you explore:

What do I value most as I consider viewing life in this new aspect of myself? What does it feel like to believe this about myself? How does this facet of me reveal God to the world? Let yourself absorb it all. Then begin to bring it back to your present day. What does it look like for you to believe in you this way today? How will you prioritize? What will you wear? What will your posture be when you enter the rooms you need to go into today? How will your voice sound when you speak? What words will you say? How does that feel? More than likely you will find yourself smiling as you consider these things. And that’s a great sign that you are beginning to believe in you. Now you are ready to “wear” your true self and step into your day.

There will be more to come about tools to help you in the practice of maturing into yourself, but none are more important than what you believe. Celebrate the wonder of even the smallest ways you see that “belief in you” beginning to shine through. If it’s for one minute, celebrate that minute. Don’t worry about the other minutes. With continued practice believing in you, reminding yourself who you really are, the minutes you sustain the truth you will expand. Look for the jewels of how the Holy Spirit is bringing things together for you. The unfolding process of “you” can be delightful, peaceful and fun. It’s happening perfectly.

-GSW-

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