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God provided the disciples with great power to further the building of His church. We have all the power given to the disciples because Jesus is sitting by the right hand of the Father; we are in His service. He told them they could do the same as He did. Is there any power greater than that exhibited by raising Jesus from the dead?

If you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do the miracle of the fig tree, but even if you should say to this mountain, Be taken up and thrown into the sea, it will be so. And all things, whatever you may ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive. Matthew 21:21-22

As true believers in Christ, and knowing what God says all through the Bible, does this mean we can literally ask for a mountain to be tossed in the sea and it will be done?

Let’s consider another question first. Did God ever do anything or say anything in any part of Scripture without a specific reason or purpose? The answer is no. Everything He does and everything He says is purposed within His divine plan. Let’s also consider a prophecy:

And His feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall divide from its middle, from the east even to the west, a very great valley. And half of the mountain shall move toward the north, and half of it toward the south. Zechariah 14:4

God is about to pour His judgment all over Jerusalem. The first three verses of Chapter 14 tells us that the people of Jerusalem have become the people of God’s wrath deserving of His judgment as He calls all the nations to gather against Jerusalem. There have been many attacks by many nations against this City of Peace. But at no time has Jesus’ feet ever touched the top of the Mount of Olives and it split into North and South chunks flattened and deepened into a valley. Therefore, this must be a prophecy of the future of Jerusalem. What reason does God have for the Mount of Olives to become a valley?

And you shall flee to the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah. And Jehovah my God shall come, and all the saints with You. Zechariah 14:5

The true believers in Jesus will flee from Jerusalem down this valley into safety and all the saints with them.

So we contemplate the example from the fig tree how swiftly God’s judgment will come. Yet we also see how God provides safety supernaturally, with His presence and with all the saints in the mountain doing the bidding of a man. It’s a promise. We can surely depend upon God bringing all His promises to fruition. Not only do they bloom on the tree, but the blooms bear luscious fruit for those who love and trust Him, and poison for those who reject His Son.

Prayer of the saints, of a righteous person, avails much. It is not some mystical magical incantation. Prayer draws us into God’s perfect plan. One thing that prayer does not do: Override personal will.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave authority to become children of God, to the ones believing into His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but were born of God. John 1:12-13

We can pray and pray for the salvation of a lost loved one, but until that person bends his or her will to God, he or she will remain lost. Our prayer for that person avails much in that God causes circumstances to change around a person so He reveals Himself in those circumstances. He will call a person’s attention to truths, but that person must make his own decision for Christ. God set it up that way on purpose.

Jesus said, “Doubt not.” Doubting chips away at our faith causing us to stumble. Believing God is an action that must and always be continuous for the action to be effective. Once we stop believing God, all the lions and tigers and bears start crowding our thoughts, which leads to fear. Remaining in our doubt may indicate we have a deeper problem than fear. We have more examples in the Bible that God intensely cares and loves each one of His children. If you doubt that He will answer your prayers, then perhaps there is something that needs taken care of first.

Just as a three-legged stool wobbles if all three legs are not of even length, faith and trust wobble when not of even strength. Wobbly faith makes repentance and forgiveness difficult to accomplish because trust is the stabilizing leg in faith. We must trust God that obeying Him will be in our own best interest. Obedience means forgiving the unforgivable, and repenting all our sins, even the secret sins we harbor in the wrinkles of our heart.

Read more: http://refreshmentrefuge.blogspot.com/2013/12/why-do-we-doubt.html#ixzz3kbEZUwSx

Just sayin’.

We should take God’s promises at face value, literally. Jesus promised whatever we asked in His name, the Father would provide. This particular promise, stated in just this way indicates an indescribable trust in His disciples and us. God first trusts us to pray according to His will. We have no way to discern all the intricasies of God's plan, but we certainly have a library of 66 books that reveal what He is all about. We can then pray the Bible in our lives and for those around us.

The responsibility for faith, trust, and belief is ours to exercise, but they are all gifts from God. They all must be fanned into flames, stoked, and stirred up.

I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give a spirit of cowardice to us, but of power and of love and of self-control. Then do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, His prisoner. But suffer hardship with the gospel, according to the power of God, the One having saved us and having called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace given to us in Christ Jesus before eternal times. 2 Timothy 1:6-9

Matthew Henry says, “Faith is the soul, and prayer is the body. Together they make a whole man for any service.” Paul was reminding Timothy that our faith needs constant fuel so that it burns brightly. Prayer and Bible study digs a deep valley full of our precious relationship with God our Father. We need that kind of fuel to exist in this dark world.

When we pray, we must believe that God will answer. Sometimes He answers without our belief as in the time when the church was praying desperately for Peter while he was imprisoned, and when he showed up at the door, they thought Rhoda was crazy. This illustrates that God’s purposeful plan will happen regardless of our belief. But how much greater is our testimony when we pray through our belief.

I am not saying that God says, “Yes!” to all prayers of the saints when they pray believing and doubt-less. Sometimes we pray outside of God’s plan. Those prayers will not have “yes” answers. True believers will come to understand why God said, “No.” Perhaps not in the heat of the moment, but eventually He shares His reasons with us. Always remember that He never takes anything from us without replacing it with something tremendously better. However, it is always something that is spiritually better for us, never worldly. We must trust that God knows best, and that His purposes are perfect.

But let all who put their trust in You rejoice; let them shout for joy forever, because You cover them. And let those who love Your name be joyful in You. Psalm 5:11

"The Way" from Kevin Pauley

The First Sin