Seed Power, II

2 Cor.3:⁵ “Not that we are adequate in ourselves so as to consider anything as having come from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.” (NASB, emphasis added).

How do I plant my mustard seed faith? The first is, Listen To God. Listen more and do not assume that you already know what the person wants to say. Spouses do this a lot. It takes a conscious effort to stop assuming and actually listen. Very often, God is speaking to you and me, but we are not paying attention, not listening. The first mustard seed of faith that you have to plant is, listen to God. Get a Bible, download the YouVersion app, you have to just listen to God. Psalm 85:⁸ “I listen carefully to what God the Lord is saying…”. The second thing you have to do is Pray. You have to tell God what you want. Prayer is easily the number one tool in moving mountains. You have to pray. However, note that when it comes to moving mountains, listening to God comes before praying. You have to listen to God first, before you start to pray.

Most times when it comes to moving mountains, people just jump into praying and commanding, but nothing moves. Why? It is because the mountains do not move to your instruction, they move to His instructions. Therefore, you must have heard from Him before you give instructions. James 4:^2b “You do not have what you want because you do not ask God for it.” (GN). Ask God for it! You must have heard that when we pray, we change. But that is like half of what can happen when we pray. When we pray, God will either change what you have or change what you want. Most times, we want Him to change what we have from A to B and many times, God will change what we have without changing us.

But very often, also, God will change what we want and not just what we have. I have this job, but I want that job, and you spend time praying for it. After a while, God will direct you somewhere else and you will get another job. Then three to five years down the line, you look back and you are grateful to God that that you did not get the job you wanted. If you do not pray, you do not get the privilege of letting God change what you have or letting God change what you want. If you do not pray, you do not get the privilege of moving the mountains. So, if you want to move mountains, you must listen to God and pray, tell God what you want.

The third thing is Forgive. This is extremely crucial. Jesus talked about moving mountains three times in the Bible in Matthew, Mark and in Luke. In two of those instances in Mark and in Luke, it was tied to a sermon on forgiveness. If you stand and say to this mountain move, it will move. When you stand in prayer, forgive, otherwise your mountain will not move. That is what Jesus said in other words. So, tied to mountain moving is forgiveness. I know it is painful, in fact sometimes forgiving feels so unfair. But if you insist on not forgiving that person, you are doing yourself a disservice. Forgiveness is a choice; you have to make the choice. You do not have to feel good, but you have to make the choice.  Listen to God, Pray, and then Forgive!

Prayer: Father, help me listen carefully to what You say, speak Your Word in prayer and forgive every hurt with all my heart, in Jesus Name. Amen!