Speak to the Mountain
Sweet friends! Hi!
It's been a while (like six months... yikes) since I've written a blog post, so I figured today is the day (yay)! There has been so much going on in life over the last six months, some things quite amazing and other things quite challenging.
You know what, though, I kind of like the challenging parts of life. Ehh, that's kind of weird, right? Let me explain. Have you ever realized that the more challenging the obstacle and the bigger the mountain, the more satisfaction you receive and the more glory God receives when you (through Him) conquer it?
Here's an example. I'm not a fan of long distance running. Okay, I hate it. There, I said it. There was a time as an athlete where I had to run two miles in under 16 minutes. That may seem like child's play to some of you, but it looked like Mount Everest to me. Try as I might, I crossed the finish line at 16:09, and I may or may not have passed out and spent an hour in the training room. I'll leave that up to your discretion, ha.
But guess what? Just because it was hard and I technically failed the first (and second and third) time, I still had to run those two miles again the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that, until finally, I conquered my mountain. And then over the months to come, I trained my body to take long distance running like a champ because I didn't want that obstacle to conquer me any longer. It may not seem like much, but those days were some of the most physically challenging times I've ever been through. They pushed me to my limit, but isn't it true that the most difficult roads often lead to the most beautiful destinations?
Those two miles are a picture of what life is like sometimes, and very much like our prayer life at times. We pray and pray and pray, and it's in those challenging, difficult, fall-on-your-face-crying-out-in-prayer times that we tend to see a shift in our ability to do it on our own and realize that we have to be fully dependent on God.
One of my all-time favorite verses is Matthew 17:20. "If you have the faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."
Y'all, that's power. That is incredible power that WE have access to. It's already in us, but it's our job to actually use the power we've been given. We have the power, through our words, to speak to the challenges and obstacles in our lives. The day I conquered my two miles was the day I chose to speak life over my obstacle. My repeating over and over (and over) again that "I couldn't do it" and "it's too hard," did nothing to help me conquer my mountain. I chose to speak life over it ("I'm going to do this no matter what it takes, throwing up and all" ... haha, just kidding), and as a result, I (through Christ no doubt) moved that mountain that was trying to trip me up.
That's a really simple example to demonstrate a complex challenge but it spoke to me nonetheless, and I pray it speaks to you, too.
This next thought tore me up and stepped ALL over my toes, but it is so true... It's time we quit talking to God about the mountain in our lives and start talking to the mountain about our God.
One of my favorite characters in the Bible is David. Think back to his story for a minute. Goliath, the big bad giant, held an entire army captive through fear; his sole weapon was intimidation. That's how our enemy (Satan) works. Scripture tells us he roars around like a roaring lion... key word is like. He's an imposter. Our God is THE Lion of Judah. So boom, Satan, buh-bye.
Here are the steps we have to take to stand up to the enemy and speak to our mountains:
It's been a while (like six months... yikes) since I've written a blog post, so I figured today is the day (yay)! There has been so much going on in life over the last six months, some things quite amazing and other things quite challenging.
You know what, though, I kind of like the challenging parts of life. Ehh, that's kind of weird, right? Let me explain. Have you ever realized that the more challenging the obstacle and the bigger the mountain, the more satisfaction you receive and the more glory God receives when you (through Him) conquer it?
Here's an example. I'm not a fan of long distance running. Okay, I hate it. There, I said it. There was a time as an athlete where I had to run two miles in under 16 minutes. That may seem like child's play to some of you, but it looked like Mount Everest to me. Try as I might, I crossed the finish line at 16:09, and I may or may not have passed out and spent an hour in the training room. I'll leave that up to your discretion, ha.
But guess what? Just because it was hard and I technically failed the first (and second and third) time, I still had to run those two miles again the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that, until finally, I conquered my mountain. And then over the months to come, I trained my body to take long distance running like a champ because I didn't want that obstacle to conquer me any longer. It may not seem like much, but those days were some of the most physically challenging times I've ever been through. They pushed me to my limit, but isn't it true that the most difficult roads often lead to the most beautiful destinations?
Those two miles are a picture of what life is like sometimes, and very much like our prayer life at times. We pray and pray and pray, and it's in those challenging, difficult, fall-on-your-face-crying-out-in-prayer times that we tend to see a shift in our ability to do it on our own and realize that we have to be fully dependent on God.
One of my all-time favorite verses is Matthew 17:20. "If you have the faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."
Y'all, that's power. That is incredible power that WE have access to. It's already in us, but it's our job to actually use the power we've been given. We have the power, through our words, to speak to the challenges and obstacles in our lives. The day I conquered my two miles was the day I chose to speak life over my obstacle. My repeating over and over (and over) again that "I couldn't do it" and "it's too hard," did nothing to help me conquer my mountain. I chose to speak life over it ("I'm going to do this no matter what it takes, throwing up and all" ... haha, just kidding), and as a result, I (through Christ no doubt) moved that mountain that was trying to trip me up.
That's a really simple example to demonstrate a complex challenge but it spoke to me nonetheless, and I pray it speaks to you, too.
This next thought tore me up and stepped ALL over my toes, but it is so true... It's time we quit talking to God about the mountain in our lives and start talking to the mountain about our God.
One of my favorite characters in the Bible is David. Think back to his story for a minute. Goliath, the big bad giant, held an entire army captive through fear; his sole weapon was intimidation. That's how our enemy (Satan) works. Scripture tells us he roars around like a roaring lion... key word is like. He's an imposter. Our God is THE Lion of Judah. So boom, Satan, buh-bye.
Here are the steps we have to take to stand up to the enemy and speak to our mountains:
- Proclaim His power.
- Declare His sovereignty.
- Affirm His faithfulness.
- Stand on His Word.
- Cling to His promises.
The cool thing about these five steps is that Christ has already done the heavy lifting. He defeated Satan and his schemes the moment He died on the cross and rose again. We are not conquerors; we are more than conquerors through Christ. All we have to do is put our faith and trust in Him and start operating in the power He's given us.
Satan wants us to cower in the corner in fear and intimation, friends. He doesn't want us fighting, and he sure doesn't want us living in the power Christ gave us. But we don't have to be afraid of the enemy's attacks because we can counteract them through prayer. Our battlefield is our prayer closet. I don't know about y'all, but I'm ready to fight and speak against the mountains trying to take over my life.
Relationship issues, speak to the mountain.
Cancer, speak to the mountain.
Financial instability, speak to the mountain.
Problems at work, speak to the mountain.
Sickness, speak to the mountain.
Salvation for a lost family member or friend, speak to the mountain.
Insecurity, fear, self-doubt, discouragement, speak to the mountain.
We have the power of life and death in our tongues (Proverbs 18:21). We have to speak life over ourselves, the people in our lives, our situations, and our mountains.
The more opposition we face, the harder we have to pray. Praying hard is hard, y'all. But just because something is hard, that doesn't give us the right to give up. If we are going to experience a miracle one day, we have to pray everyday. We have to pray like it depends on God and work like it depends on us.
Speak to your mountain today, friend. Don't let the enemy gain ground and momentum in your life any longer. Keep fighting the good fight, and watch how God shows up BIG. He loves your more than anything.
Love & Blessings,
Claire
Claire
💚
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