Have you ever felt stuck, limited and as if things would never change? Perhaps your limitation was sickness, or trauma, or the pit of financial despair. Whatever your insurmountable mountain might be, it can be moved!
Truly I tell you, if you have 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.
Matthew 17:20
Just recently a dear friend’s daughter faced a seemingly impossible battle: sickness suddenly and unexpectedly overtook her. Her body kept alive only by machines. It must have felt overwhelming. But what was incredible was how faith-filled friends and strangers rallied around them. They offered not only practical help but also constant encouragement and prayers. They stood together, they lent faith and together they praised and were fully convinced that God had the power to bring her life-less, failing body back to life.
And in hope, against all odds, we saw an incredible breakthrough: from life-less to walking home full of joy to enjoy a full and long life!
What happens when you have no faith?
- The medical diagnosis brings only doom and gloom.
- The sleepless nights never end as you toss and turn under the weight of hidden trauma that no one seems to understand.
- Or perhaps it’s being told your business will fold, your house will be taken and you face the realisation that all is now lost.
When you face the facts and have no energy or faith to see a way ahead. Your mountain seems impossible to move. Then what? Just like my friend’s daughter:
Surround yourself with friends who will tear a hole in the roof, lift you up, and carry you to the feet of Jesus.
Find faith-filled friends who don’t focus on what holds you captive, but on seeing you set free. Remember the man in Capernaum? Completely paralysed, unable to move his own body, his mountain seemingly immoveable.
A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralysed man, carried by four of them. Since they couldn’t get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralysed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
Mark 2:1-5 NIV
Facing the facts, but full of faith
The man could not move, nor could my friend’s daughter pray herself, but their friends carried them. There was no room for this man to get to Jesus but his friends carried him onto the roof, made a hole in the roof and lowered him down to Jesus. When facts seem immoveable,
Surround yourself with friends who see beyond what you cannot do and lead you to the one who can remove all restrictions.
The power of a promise
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Romans 4:18-22
Roof-Opening, Mat Carrying Friends:
- Faithful: They believe in you and your potential in God, even when you doubt yourself.
- Resourceful: They have faith to encourage you to overcome any obstacle that holds you bound.
- Persistent: They don’t give up on you easily and will keep taking you to the feet of Jesus.
- Encouraging: They uplift your spirit and speak life over you until you see your mountain moved.
Do you need a roof-opening, mat-carrying friend? Or will you be the roof-opening, mat-carrying friend someone else so desperately needs? You can be both at once. Don’t disqualify yourself from pouring your faith into someone else, when you lack it in another area. We are stronger together.
