“I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.” Mark 11:23–24 (NLT)
One Sunday afternoon when I was a little girl, I climbed up on the roof of our chicken shed and stood on the edge, trying to muster enough courage to jump off. That morning our pastor had preached a sermon on Jesus’ words about moving mountains. Blame it on Peter Pan, but at that age I had an obsession with flying. I could not imagine anything more wonderful than soaring over the woods at the edge of the farm. And according to Matthew 11, if I just believed hard enough, I could do it, right?
What I wanted couldn’t be more difficult than moving a mountain. Thankfully, I never found the nerve to step off that roof before I grew older and wiser.
Later I learned that Jews often spoke in hyperbole, and that “moving a mountain” was an expression for doing something considered impossible. Now I understand that Jesus’ promise doesn’t apply to just any whim or desire, but to prayer that fits guidelines laid down in the Bible: a request that aligns with God’s will, prayed by a believer who has godly motives and a forgiving spirit toward others.
Jesus taught that when we ask for something in prayer, we need to have faith that we will receive it. But that doesn’t mean I can claim a specific verse as a guarantee that I’ll get whatever I want. I need to also invoke Jesus’s prayer just before His Crucifixion: “Yet I want your will to be done, not mine” (Mark 14:36).
Faith Step: Do you have a “mountain” you want moved? Evaluate whether your request fits scriptural guidelines, then get in the habit of ending your prayer with “Your will be done.”
