Uprooting mountains of difficulties in our lives

By The Standard | Sep. 12, 2021

It’s so important for us to act like the Word is true, which it is. It is the devil who is the father of all lies. God wants us to act like the victors because we are “more than conquerors.

By Dr Doug Mamvura

Man was created by God to rule and reign in life, not to be dominated and reigned over. Christ won the battle for us by defeating Satan so that we can live in victory instead of being bogged down by difficulties we can never rise above. But if Christ has won the battle for us, why do we have to deal with all the terrible things that exist on this earth?

The answer is that we must “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12) to receive the victory God has for us. The fight of faith involves three basic areas.

You must fight to believe something.
You must fight to say something.
You must fight to do something.

First, you fight to believe what Christ did for you at Calvary. Why is it a fight? It is a fight of faith because the devil will do everything he can to try to get you not to believe what the Word says. You fight for what you believe by continually feeding upon God’s Word until it’s a part of you.

Second, you fight to say what the Bible says. When the devil comes along and whispers something in your ear, you need to immediately refute his words or thoughts by saying what the Word says. Refuse to say anything except what you believe and what the Word says.

Third, you fight to do what the Bible says you can do. For example, Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” That verse doesn’t say, “I can do all spiritual things.” It doesn’t say, “I can do all things through Christ except when I don’t feel good,” or “except when I don’t know how to do something in the natural.” It says, “all things,” This is powerful!

There are no qualifications on that verse, no exceptions. Philippians 4:13 declares that there isn’t anything you can’t accomplish through Jesus Christ. But you have to believe it and say it. You have to fight to do what the Word says you can do.

It’s so important for us to act like the Word is true, which it is. It is the devil who is the father of all lies. God wants us to act like the victors because we are “more than conquerors.

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He created us to be not cast down or defeated. Remember, the battle has already been won. God wants us to rejoice and choose to live in the victory we were designed to have.

Furthermore, you have to learn how to say what God is saying about the situation, not what somebody else is saying or what the circumstances are saying. You have to believe it in your heart and then confess it with your mouth.

Hebrews 10:23 (KJV) states that “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering” (for he is faithful that promised)

This scripture encourages us to hold fast to our profession of faith, which is our confession. We’re not talking about saying something one time! We’re talking about continually, on a consistent basis, saying what we believe, saying what the Bible says. And we must do it without wavering, without being up and down.

Do you know believers who are ruled by circumstances and reflect that in their words? One day when you see them, they say, “Oh, praise the Lord. Everything is going great.” The next time you see them, they’re saying, “I don’t know whether I’m going to make it or not.”

If they feel good, everything is great. If they don’t feel good, things aren’t going right. Whether we feel good or not, God’s Word is still the same. He never changes, and His Word never changes! When we start saying what God says in His Word, we will start feeling good again. Most people want the feeling first. No, the feeling comes after we believe and speak the Word. Then victory comes.

When we listen to the news, fear will try to come in and grip us. So much of the time the news gives us the impression there isn’t any hope. We can easily be discouraged when we continuously hear about how, for example, the pandemic is ravaging lives.

We need to believe and say what the Bible says. We need to base our confession on Second Timothy 1:7 and say what God says: “I have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind.” Believing and confessing the Word causes us to live a lifestyle that’s in line with God’s Word. Some people say, “Confession may work for somebody else, but it won’t work for me.” And they will get exactly what they are saying. Confession won’t work for them. But their results would be different if they would begin to confess the Word and believe it in their hearts. If we believe what the Word says and begin to confess it with our mouths, what we are saying will become a reality!

If we want to move up to that extraordinary, victorious level where God intends for us to live, we must do what Jesus talked about in Mark.

Mark 11:22–24, “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

Not many of us are going to talk to a physical mountain made out of rock and dirt and tell it to move. But figuratively, we do have mountains that rise up in our lives. We have mountains of difficulties — problems, hardships, trials, sickness and disease, and other impossibilities. Jesus is using “this mountain” as an example to show how powerful our faith can be. He is telling us that if we say what we believe in our hearts, it shall be done!

Let’s look for a moment at the verses preceding Mark 11:22–24. Jesus and the disciples were leaving Bethany to go into Jerusalem. Jesus was hungry. In the distance, He saw a fig tree that had leaves on it, and He went to find out if it had any fruit.

“When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs.

Then He said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it, (Mark 11: 13-14).

Jesus cursed the tree because it didn’t have any figs, yet it wasn’t the season for figs. I am told that a fig tree with leaves on it normally has fruit. It was as if the tree was saying, “I have fruit,” but there wasn’t any fruit.

The next morning as Jesus and the disciples walked by the tree again, they saw it was withered from the roots (Mark 11:20–21).

“In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!” It was at this point that Jesus said, “Have faith in God” (v. 22). The literal translation is “Have the faith of God” or have the God-kind of faith. In verses 23 and 24, Jesus gives an explanation of what the God-kind of faith is. In other words, “Here is the way it works: you believe in your heart and you say with your mouth and it will be done!”

This is exactly what happened when He spoke to the fig tree and it withered and died.

Jesus uses the illustration of the mountain to show us what we can do to get rid of a difficulty so great that it looks like a mountain to us. He tells us how to handle the problems and impossibilities that rise up in our lives.