Good morning! Today is a good day!
I want to share what the Lord placed in my heart early this morning, I pray that it blesses and encourages you today.
Yesterday, Josiah shared with us the urgency and importance of the process of renewing our minds. He even touched on the spiritual attacks and resistance that can come when we begin to truly allow God's Word to transform us. When we intentionally go before God, pushing past our emotions, our flesh, our own understanding, AND the distractions that compete for our attention. And how FAITH IN CHRIST IS THE FOUNDATION FOR ALL OF THIS. As I was reading this morning the thought drop in my mind “the people have flawed or empty faith” Not necessarily because we don't WANT to believe God, but because many of us DON'T REALLY KNOW GOD. Or we've developed our understanding of Him through WRONG information, past disappointments, our emotions, or what others have told us about Him. And when our understanding of God is flawed, our faith will often reflect that.

How can we fully trust a God we have not taken the time to KNOW?
This is why renewing our minds through the Word of God is SO IMPORTANT!

Reading Mark 11:22–25, and particularly verse 23 is what I feel the need to highlight
Jesus had cursed a fig tree right before this, and when the disciples later noticed that it had withered, they were amazed. He moved their attention away from the withered fig tree and began expanding their understanding of what it means to have FAITH IN GOD and the Power of it. Jesus said, “Have faith in God.” (Mark 11:22) And then He went straight to talking about a MOUNTAIN! Not another tree. A MOUNTAIN!

A mountain represents those situations in our lives that seem too difficult, too painful, too complicated, or seemingly IMPOSSIBLE to overcome. The problems that have grown so large that they now dominate our thoughts our life, almost consumes us. The situations that attempt to illegitimately control our peace, our emotions, our decisions, and even our view of God. The things we've tried to fix, change, carry, or overcome in our OWN strength, understanding, only to discover that we simply CAN'T.

JESUS WENT STRAIGHT TO THE MOUNTAIN! YOUR MOUNTAIN!
That place where your own strength, will, wisdom, and ability are NOT ENOUGH!
And His instruction was clear: HAVE FAITH IN GOD!  Family, when you speak to your mountain in faith, you are introducing GOD—His character, His power, His strength, and His truth to whatever it is you are facing!

There are TWO things we need to learn to do when we are facing our mountains:
1. TALK TO YOUR PROBLEM ABOUT GOD!
2. TALK TO GOD ABOUT YOUR PROBLEM!

Unfortunately, many times we do NEITHER! Instead, we talk to ALLLL the people about the problem OR the people involved in the problem! Then we turn around and talk to OURSELVES about the same problem and the same people, AGAIN AND AGAIN! And more than likely, ON REPEAT! We try to ignore what God is telling us to have faith to remove.

We replay the conversations. We rehearse the offenses. We imagine the worst outcomes.
We remind ourselves of how big the problem is, how unfair it is, how painful it is, and how impossible it seems. AND THAT DOES NOT WORK! The mountain remains! And often, instead of moving the mountain, we've allowed it to grow EVEN BIGGER in our hearts and minds. Not necessarily because the situation itself has changed, but because we've given it so much of our attention that it begins to overshadow everything else.

WE HAVE MAGNIFIED THE MOUNTAIN INSTEAD OF MAGNIFYING GOD!
But when you begin speaking to your mountain in FAITH, declaring the truth of who God is, His character, His power, His faithfulness, and His Word, something begins to shift!
YOUR FOCUS CHANGES! You stop allowing the mountain to define what is possible, and you begin looking to the God for whom NOTHING is impossible! You stop rehearsing only what the problem has done, and you begin remembering what GOD HAS DONE!
You stop placing your confidence in your ability to control the outcome, and you begin placing your confidence in the One who holds ALL THINGS in His hands! ( shouting)
YOU BEGIN MAKING GOD BIGGER IN YOUR HEART AND MIND THAN THE MOUNTAIN STANDING BEFORE YOU!
Not because God was ever small, but because your view of Him needed to GROW!
And as you magnify God in your heart and mind, YOUR FAITH GROWS!
You begin grasping and holding on to HIS truth. HIS character. HIS promises. HIS power.
HIS faithfulness. HIS Word.
Not faith in YOUR truth. Not faith in YOUR character or someone else's.
Not faith in YOUR strength, wisdom, or ability. BUT FAITH IN GOD AND GOD ALONE!
And let me remind us, faith is not about convincing God to do whatever WE want. Faith is trusting WHO HE IS, even when we don't understand WHAT HE IS DOING.
Sometimes the mountain moves. Sometimes God gives us the strength to walk through what we cannot move. But in either situation, our confidence remains in HIM!
BE INTENTIONAL WITH GETTING TO KNOW THE ONE WHO KNOWS YOU…
Because the more you truly KNOW HIM through His Word, the more you learn to TRUST HIM with your life.

Today, identify the mountain you've been magnifying. Instead of rehearsing the problem one more time, open your Bible and begin discovering what God's Word reveals about HIS character, HIS power, and HIS faithfulness. Then take that truth into prayer!

Talk to your mountain about GOD, and talk to GOD about your mountain!
YOUR MOUNTAIN MAY BE BIG, BUT YOUR GOD IS GREATER!

Pastor Nina ❤️