Move Mountains

Prayer: I just want to praise You with my hands lifted up; out loud with my voice; with the smile on my lips; with the actions that I make; with the thoughts that I think.  I just want to praise You, dear LORD.  You are so awe-inspiring!  Thank You Jesus.  Thank You for the freedom to praise You.  Amen.

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JESUS' MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM

Mark 11:20 -26 (NKJV)

Have Faith in God

²⁰ Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. ²¹ And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.”
²² So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. ²³ For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. ²⁴ Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
²⁵ “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. ²⁶ But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

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The kind of prayer that moves mountains is prayer for the fruitfulness of God's Kingdom.  It would seem impossible to move a mountain into the sea, so Jesus used this illustration to show that God can do the impossible.  What are you asking for in your prayers?  How many of our prayers are about us?  "LORD, I need this!"  "LORD, I want that!  Where are the prayers about God's Kingdom?  I'm guilty of it; asking, sometimes begging for things I think I need, things I think will make me happy - without any regard to what's good for His Kingdom.

Seriously, does it make any sense to pray about anything else but the Kingdom of God, the Will of the LORD Most High?

God will answer prayer but not as a result of our positive mental attitude.  What does the Word say?

1. You must be a believer. 

- How can anyone pray/ask in Jesus name, and not believe in Him? (John 14:13,14)
       2.  You must not hold a grudge against another person. (Mark 11:25,26)
- Does it make sense to ask for, and expect favor in spite of our mistakes; yet we can't forgive ______ (whoever that may be) for theirs against us?

       3. You must not pray with selfish motives.
- Our prayers are often motivated by our own interests and desires.  We like to hear that we can have anything.  But Jesus prayed with God's interests in mind.  When we pray, we can express our desire, but we should want His Will above ours.  Check out Jesus in Gethsemane (Mark 14:36); then let's check ourselves to see if our prayers focus on our own interests or God's.

     4. Your request must be for the good of God's Kingdom.
- I challenge you to go through the entire Bible to find a time when God moved in opposition or without the purpose of advancing His Kingdom.  If you can find this, please let me know!  But I'm confident that you won't.   God does not work against Himself or without purpose.  NEVER!

*it's so important to seek who God is; to know down to the core of your soul and spirit*

To pray effectively, we NEED faith in God, not faith in the object ( job, person, circumstance) of our request.  If we focus only on our request, we will be left with nothing if the request is not fulfilled.

Faith in God!  Not in what we desire, is where we need to get family.  Faith in God for the fruitfulness of His Kingdom; not our own.  Don't forget we are heirs to His Kingdom; and this is where nothing is impossible.

WE MUST PRAISE