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How to Develop Faith to Move Mountains
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Dawn Fields
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Aug 28, 2008 14:21 PDT
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I came across this article, written by Eve Juunik called Develop Your
Faith to Move Mountains and wanted to share it with you.
Enjoy!
Develop Your Faith to Move Mountains by Eve Juunik
"If you live in Me [abide vitally united to Me] and My words remain in
you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it
shall be done for you." (John 15:7)
I've been meditating on verses that talk about dwelling/living/abiding
in the Lord... and the importance of doing so. John 15:7 lets us know
that if we live in the Lord, if we abide vitally united to Him and His
words remain in us and continue to live in our hearts, we can ask
whatever we will and it shall be done for us.
My friend Lois shared her thoughts on Psalm 37 today. She inspired me.
So, I too popped down to Psalm 37. Verse 4 gives us one of the most
wonderful promises in the Word... one, that many Christians often
joyfully quote: "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you
the desires and secret petitions of your heart."
This verse can be the greatest blessing or the worst curse... as when we
realize that we receive from the Lord what we desire secretly in our
hearts... we realize that not all things in our hearts are good!
Traditions are hidden in our hearts... negative words that were spoken
about/to us in our youth might still be unconsciously hidden deep in the
secret recesses of our hearts... limiting thoughts about ourselves are
hidden in our hearts... negative visions that we might have developed...
unforgiveness... bitterness... hurt... sickness... lack... etch.
Sometimes we sincerely go to the Lord and cry to Him in our needs (which
I think is the first warning signal... as when we cry/plead/beg, we do
not really believe that the Lord wants to help us), not realizing that
we still harbor wrong thoughts in our hearts - and receive into our
lives according to those wrong thoughts. (I do not mean we shouldn't cry
before the Lord when we are hurting or we shouldn't pour our hearts out
to Him... we definitely should, but I am talking about having
deep-rooted wrong attitudes in our hearts that hinder our
prayer-answers). We consider prayers those petitions that we lift up
unto God during our time of devotion, but in reality the thoughts of our
hearts are also prayers. ...bummer!
I think Psalm 15 is one of the most powerful eye openers, saying: "Lord,
Who shall dwell [temporarily] in Your tabernacle? Who shall dwell
[permanently] on Your holy hill? He who speaks and thinks the truth in
his heart... He who does these things shall never be moved."
The book of John constantly exhorts us to dwell or abide in the Lord:
"Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in
you.] Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in
(being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless
you abide in Me. I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in
Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut
off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing." (15:4-5)
How do we dwell in the Lord? John 1:1 says that the Word of God and
Christ are one and the same... so, we dwell in the Lord by dwelling in
the Word of God. In order for us to receive our needs met supernaturally
- having God as our provider, protector, healer, helper in any situation
- we need to have the Word of God deeply rooted in our hearts. When we
meditate on the Word, we allow the Word of God to sink from our minds
into our hearts, thus replacing unbelieving thoughts with faith
thoughts... replacing hate thoughts with love thoughts... sick thoughts
with well thoughts... low self-esteem with confidence in Christ...
As faith only resides in our hearts, God can't give us anything that is
in the contrary with our heart faith. No wonder Joshua 1:8 exhorts us to
meditate on the Word day and night! ...promising that if we do, we will
make our way prosperous. Everything starts with choosing our thoughts.
In Proverbs, over and over again, God almost begs us to fill our hearts
with the Truth of the Word... knowing that our lives - especially the
quality of our lives - depend on it: "My son, forget not my law or
teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments; for length of days
and years of a life [worth living] and tranquility [inward and outward
and continuing through old age till death], these shall they add to you.
Let not mercy and kindness [shutting out all hatred and selfishness] and
truth [shutting out all deliberate hypocrisy or falsehood] forsake you;
bind them about your neck, write them upon the table of your heart. So
shall you find favor, good understanding, and high esteem in the sight
[or judgment] of God and man." ...yeah, good life sure depends on having
the Word of God deeply rooted in our hearts!
Proverbs 4:23 calls us to: "Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance
and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life."
...God calls us to GUARD our hearts with all vigilance... "guard"
meaning to protect or hide... "vigilance" meaning careful attention
being given to a situation, so that we notice any danger or trouble that
there might be (BBC English Dictionary). God alerts us to protect our
hearts so carefully that we would notice any danger or trouble
approaching and immediately hide our hearts from it.
We can notice danger only when we know what the Word of God terms
danger. Everything that opposes the Word of God means danger to us...
for if we choose to dwell on it and entertain it in our thoughts or keep
it in front of our eyes, it means less faith in our hearts. God actually
exhorts us, day by day, even moment by moment, to reject everything that
would harm the faith of our hearts.
Psalm 91 - my daily prayer - explains really well how things work in the
spirit realm. The psalmist beings: "He who dwells in the secret place of
the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the
Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand]." When we dwell, abide, live
in the Word of God, we shall remain stable and fixed in every situation.
This is because we no longer depend on the outward conditions, but we
KNOW the Truth in our hearts and are ONLY moved by the Truth. We know
that our outward conditions are just temporary and we can easily change
them through the Word. We also know HOW to change them through the
Truth:
"I will SAY of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him
I lean and rely, and in Him I [confidently] trust!" (v.2) When the Truth
is firmly rooted in our hearts we SPEAK the Truth. Matthew 12:34-35
confirms it: "Out of the fullness (the overflow, the superabundance) of
the heart the mouth speaks. The good man from his inner good treasure
flings forth good things, and the evil man out of his inner evil
storehouse flings forth evil things." ...notice that THINGS come out of
our hearts... if we need some things, we have to first have faith for
those things in our hearts! Now, when we speak words of faith, we
mobilize God to move on our behalf, as verse 3 continues:
"For [THEN] He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from
the deadly pestilence. [THEN] He will cover you with His pinions, and
under His wings shall you trust and find refuge; His truth and His
faithfulness are a shield and a buckler..." When we speak the words of
faith, we release the power of God to move on our behalf. It is actually
easy to speak words of faith when we have time to think about what we
need to say. It is easy to speak the words of faith during our prayer
time... but when things happen suddenly and we need to speak words of
faith, oftentimes what comes out of our hearts and mouths are fear
words. So, in order to speak faith words in times of accident or trouble
- that are our deliverance - we must have put those words into our
hearts long ahead of time. ...this gives a much more clear perspective
as to why God tells us to DWELL in His Word!
Verse 5 continues to say that when we have filled our hearts with the
Word of God and out of the overflow of our hearts, are speaking the
words of faith: "You shall not be afraid of the terror of the night, nor
of the arrow (the evil plots and slanders of the wicked) that flies by
day... Only a spectator shall you be [yourself INACCESSIBLE in the
secret place of the Most High] as you witness the reward of the wicked."
When our hearts are rooted in God, we are INACCESSIBLE to evil. Verse 9
confirms the reason of such supernatural protection: "Because you have
made the Lord your refuge, and the Most High your DWELLING PLACE, there
shall no evil befall you, nor any plague or calamity come near your
tent." In verse 14 God Himself says: "Because he has set his love upon
Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he
knows and understands My name [has personal knowledge of My mercy, love,
and kindness - trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake
him, no, never]."
We have to KNOW some things in order to be protected and receiving God's
promises! Having hidden His Truth in our hearts and having had personal
experiences of God's faithfulness, mercy, love and kindness, we have
strong confidence in Him. "Because he has set his love upon Me" - this
is how God describes the person who is so blessed. What does it mean to
love God?
We all have said: "I love God"... and I know we all have meant it with
all our hearts... though the Bible has a clear definition of what it
means to love God. Jesus said in John 14:23: "If a person [really] loves
Me, he will keep My word [obey My teaching]; and My Father will love
him, and We will come to him and make Our home (abode, special dwelling
place) with him." We can tell God: "I love you" as much as we want...
but He knows that we truly love Him when we keep His Word, obey His
teaching. This is God's personal definition of us loving Him... in the
light of which we can truly see whether we love Him.
But when we do, it does not matter whether we are new Christians or
mature Christians, if we keep His Word that He is teaching us at present
- and He is always teaching us something - then we are truly delighting
in Him... and thus He is able to indeed give us the good desires and
secret petitions of our hearts.
God is good! He is perfectly good... there is NO evil in Him and He
desires with all His heart to give good gifts to us - His precious
children - but He too is limited by spiritual laws that rule this
universe. He is teaching us through His Word HOW to live in His good
blessings - ALL the time! When we take time to learn from the Master, we
will be filled with His Wisdom that brings us humongous blessings (read
Proverbs 3 and 4)... yep, indeed, we are growing from glory to glory...
having constantly more to learn, having greater heights to rise to... a
life of learning - the best life of all.
You can find more articles from my blog at:
http://www.praize.com/cgi-bin/members/blog.cgi?userid=9980207770429
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Well, that's it for this week.
Be blessed!
Dawn Fields
No God!
No Peace!
Know God!
Know Peace!
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