And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Matthew 17:20
I have had people come up to me and ask quite frankly, "Why do you like to pray so much?" All I can say is, "I have seen prayers answered! I have seen the hand of God do wonderful and mighty things. I have seen miracles beyond what I could understand... Still more than that, I have basked in God's presence and there is no other place in the world... where I would rather be." Frankly, I do not understand why people do not gather the moment they hear prayer time!
I hope this encourages you to seek God with more conviction and devotion:
A small congregation in the foothills of the Great Smokies built a new sanctuary on a piece of land willed to them by a church member. Ten days before the new church was to open, the local building inspector informed the pastor that the parking lot was inadequate for the size of the building. Until the church doubled the size of the parking lot, they would not be able to use the new sanctuary.
Unfortunately, the church with its undersized lot had used every inch of their land... except for the mountain against which it had been built. In order to build more parking spaces, they would have to move the mountain out of the back yard. Undaunted, the pastor announced the next Sunday morning that he would meet that evening with all those that had "mountain moving faith." They would hold a prayer session and ask God to remove the
mountain from the back yard and somehow provide enough money to have it paved and painted before the scheduled opening dedication service the following week.
At the appointed time, 24 of the congregation's 300 members assembled for prayer. They all took turns praying for nearly three hours. At ten o'clock the pastor said the final "Amen." "We'll open next Sunday as scheduled," he assured everyone. "God has never let us down before, and I believe He will be faithful this time too!"
The next morning as he was working in his study there came a loud knock at his door. When he called, "come in", a rough looking construction foreman appeared, removing his hard hat as he entered. "Excuse me, Reverend. I'm from a local construction company over in the next county. We're building a huge shopping mall and we need some fill dirt. Would you be willing to sell us a chunk of that mountain behind the church? We will pay you for the dirt we will remove and pave all the area we expose, free of charge... if we can have it right away. We can't do anything else at the shopping mall until we get the dirt in and allow it to settle properly."
The little church was dedicated the next Sunday as originally planned and there were far more members with "mountain moving faith" on Sunday than there had been the previous week! When I heard about this little church, I began to praise God... I was so happy. Then a real sadness came over me... "Why did only 24... of a congregation of 300... show up to pray?
I have to ask myself... "Am I ready to seek God when I have to face a 'mountain' in my life? Have I been in a regular prayer pattern... so that I have faith enough to know... my God will remove that mountain... whatever it is... from me?"
I also have to ask myself... after looking at the mountain behind this church... "Would I have shown up for that prayer meeting?" Would I have enough faith stored up in my soul to say... "Yes, God will move this mountain?"
Would you have shown up for this prayer meeting?
Some people say faith comes from Miracles. Others know: MIRACLES COME FROM FAITH!
I have had people come up to me and ask quite frankly, "Why do you like to pray so much?" All I can say is, "I have seen prayers answered! I have seen the hand of God do wonderful and mighty things. I have seen miracles beyond what I could understand... Still more than that, I have basked in God's presence and there is no other place in the world... where I would rather be." Frankly, I do not understand why people do not gather the moment they hear prayer time!
I hope this encourages you to seek God with more conviction and devotion:
A small congregation in the foothills of the Great Smokies built a new sanctuary on a piece of land willed to them by a church member. Ten days before the new church was to open, the local building inspector informed the pastor that the parking lot was inadequate for the size of the building. Until the church doubled the size of the parking lot, they would not be able to use the new sanctuary.
Unfortunately, the church with its undersized lot had used every inch of their land... except for the mountain against which it had been built. In order to build more parking spaces, they would have to move the mountain out of the back yard. Undaunted, the pastor announced the next Sunday morning that he would meet that evening with all those that had "mountain moving faith." They would hold a prayer session and ask God to remove the
mountain from the back yard and somehow provide enough money to have it paved and painted before the scheduled opening dedication service the following week.
At the appointed time, 24 of the congregation's 300 members assembled for prayer. They all took turns praying for nearly three hours. At ten o'clock the pastor said the final "Amen." "We'll open next Sunday as scheduled," he assured everyone. "God has never let us down before, and I believe He will be faithful this time too!"
The next morning as he was working in his study there came a loud knock at his door. When he called, "come in", a rough looking construction foreman appeared, removing his hard hat as he entered. "Excuse me, Reverend. I'm from a local construction company over in the next county. We're building a huge shopping mall and we need some fill dirt. Would you be willing to sell us a chunk of that mountain behind the church? We will pay you for the dirt we will remove and pave all the area we expose, free of charge... if we can have it right away. We can't do anything else at the shopping mall until we get the dirt in and allow it to settle properly."
The little church was dedicated the next Sunday as originally planned and there were far more members with "mountain moving faith" on Sunday than there had been the previous week! When I heard about this little church, I began to praise God... I was so happy. Then a real sadness came over me... "Why did only 24... of a congregation of 300... show up to pray?
I have to ask myself... "Am I ready to seek God when I have to face a 'mountain' in my life? Have I been in a regular prayer pattern... so that I have faith enough to know... my God will remove that mountain... whatever it is... from me?"
I also have to ask myself... after looking at the mountain behind this church... "Would I have shown up for that prayer meeting?" Would I have enough faith stored up in my soul to say... "Yes, God will move this mountain?"
Would you have shown up for this prayer meeting?
Some people say faith comes from Miracles. Others know: MIRACLES COME FROM FAITH!
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