Can Faith Move Mountains?

Question: Can faith move mountains?

In Matthew 21, Jesus said, “if you have faith, and do not doubt. . .if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it shall happen” (v. 21).

Jesus is not talking about the literal removal of mountains if we should ask it in prayer. Of course, with the Lord, there are always exceptions because He can do whatever He wants when He wants and through whom He chooses to work through. But the over riding principle here is simply this: “No object in life, no matter how large, would be impossible for God to take away.”

From where the disciples were standing from the slopes of the Mount of Olives, the Dead Sea would be visible, which would make Jesus’ illustration more vivid to His disciples. Thus moving mountains would be a figure of speech for doing what would be virtually impossible, for men, but not for the Lord.

Let me also add a couple of qualifying notes to consider. First, when praying for a mountain size obstacle to be removed from your path or out of your life, it must be in the will of God (1 John 5:14).  Praying outside of the will of God won’t move even the smallest of objects. Second, the faith that is used to pray for such a huge request comes from God. Jesus is not describing people who are able to generate a truck load of positive thinking. He is saying that the source (God alone) and the object (faith in God), even if a person’s faith is the size of a mustard seed (cf. Matt. 17:20), will have the power and potential to do the humanly impossible. Faith that comes from God will help clear up any doubts.

D you want this kind of faith that’s grounded strong in its source (God)? Then you need to do what Romans 10:17 says: “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ.” You have to make the time daily to be listening to God through His Word and also make the time to listen to the Words of Christ as it is proclaim from your own home church.

When a huge impossible to move obstacle comes into your life, you may have waited too long for God to remove it because your faith is weak and plagued with doubts. You will then scramble to attend church, read your bible, not to build a love relationship with the Lord, but to try to acquire enough faith in God to remove your mountain. Then if the Lord should remove it from your path, you will go back to being how you were before the mountain popped into your life.

Get close to God now when things are going well, and don’t do it only when you simply have ran out of all other options.