House of Hope Online

September 15, 2024

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Mountains are amazing things.  They yield beautiful views from their peaks.  They provide great entertainment for skiers.  They can offer protection from the storm if you live in the right spot.  Yet they can be barriers to us, preventing us from going where we hope to go, or making it treacherous for us to get from point A to point B.

As a veteran of the coal industry, I know very well the challenges presented by the mountain.  I have driven the mountains of West Virginia during snowstorms.  And I know that the mountains present barriers to mining coal.  In surface mining, all the effort is directed toward moving (or removing) the mountain.  Once the mountain is moved, mining the coal is easy.

In the Spirit realm, a mountain can be a holy place, as in the Mountain of the Lord, where God met with Moses and spoke with him.  But the Bible also describes the mountain as a barrier to believers that must be removed.  A mountain needs to be gotten over, it needs to be overcome by faith in Jesus, and trusting Him to remove it.

Jesus said as much in Mark 11.

Mark 11:

 23 “Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it shall be [granted] him.

 24 “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be [granted] you.

As many of you know, I am facing a mountain with my health situation.  I have a test on Tuesday that may determine that I need open heart surgery.  I have been facing this mountain since February when my echocardiogram came back with poor results.  When my six-month re-test was worse, a special test to confirm results was scheduled for this Tuesday.  I am praying for the Lord to heal me by Tuesday, and for the test result to clearly show it.

The potential for a second open heart surgery is a mountain to me.  It is a barrier to my joy.  I cannot see past it.  I am struggling to overcome it.  Jesus’ words from Mark 11 both encourage me and challenge me.  I have been speaking to my heart valve and commanding it to be healed.  I am saying to the mountain: “Be taken up and cast into the sea.”  I am trying my best to believe, and not doubt in my heart, so that it might be granted to me.

So, that is my current mountain.  I have had others over the years, but this one is top of mind today.  I know all of you have mountains as well, and so I want to share some scriptures that have encouraged me this week.  Perhaps they will help you.

Power to Heal

There are at least four things that are present when healing takes place: compassion, faith, power, and authority.  Jesus brings the compassion; we bring the faith with His help.  But I want to focus today on the last two: power and authority.

Here are some scriptures that speak to this power and authority.

Luke 5:

 17 ¶ And it came about one day that He was teaching; and there were [some] Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting [there,] who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and [from] Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was [present] for Him to perform healing.

Healing is a manifestation of power from the throne room of God.  It is Holy Spirit power.  It is the same power that resurrected Jesus from the dead.  And that power manifests when there is healing.  Luke 5:17 documents that the power to heal was present in the room, which led to the healing of the paralytic who was lowered down by his friends from the rafters right in front of Jesus.

I know that Jesus has the power to heal.  I need that power to manifest in my situation, and you need that power to manifest for your healing as well.  Let us pray for the power to heal to manifest in our lives, in Jesus’ name.

Authority to Heal

In addition to power, authority must be present.  Jesus has all authority in heaven and earth, and He exercised it to heal.

Matthew 28:

 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

We see the exercise of His authority to heal in Matthew 8, when He engaged with the Roman centurion, who was a friend of the Jews, and a believer himself.

Matthew 8:

 5 ¶ And when He had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, entreating Him,

 6 and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering great pain.”

 7 And He *said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

 8 But the centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

 9 “For I, too, am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does [it].”

 10 Now when Jesus heard [this,] He marveled, and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.

 11 “And I say to you, that many shall come from east and west, and recline [at the table] with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven;

 12 but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

 13 And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; let it be done to you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed that [very] hour.

The centurion understood power and authority.  It is one thing to have power, but one must have authority to use that power.  Jesus had both: power and authority.  Jesus was impressed with the centurion’s faith that Jesus had the power and authority to heal his servant.  He asked Jesus to command that power to heal, and that is what Jesus did.

Let us ask Jesus to command His power to heal us.

Jesus Gave Us Authority

Right before His ascension into Heaven, Jesus delegated his authority to lay hands on the sick and heal. 

Mark 16:

 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

 16 “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.

 17 “And these signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues;

 18 they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly [poison,] it shall not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

 19 ¶ So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.

Understand the power to heal belongs to the Holy Spirit.  Understand we cannot command God to heal, but we can lay hands on the sick and believe in the power of God to heal.  Jesus prophesied that we would do so.

Closing

And so, in closing, let’s look at two passages of scripture for comfort as we face our mountains.

Romans 8:

 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

He has already given us the greatest gift in Jesus.  Therefore, we can ask with confidence for our miracle.

2^nd Corinthians 1:

 3 ¶ Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort;

 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.

As you face your mountain, receive the comfort from the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.  And be willing to comfort others in their time of need with that same comfort.

Trust the God of all comfort.

Let us pray.

Father God, thank You that Jesus has the power and authority to heal us.  Thank You that our sickness and infirmities are under His authority and subject to His power.  Thank You that He has compassion to heal us.  Thank You that He increases our faith to believe, and He respects great faith.  Lord God, we ask for Your healing touch, and we ask that our mountains be taken up and cast into the sea.  In Jesus’ name we ask.  Amen.