Scripture: Ephesians 6 v 16: "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked."
Mark 11 v 22 - 24: "And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."
We walk by faith and not by sight. It's not seeing is believing but believing is seeing. The more negative a hoped for miracle seems to get, the more our faith must grow to counteract it.
The enemy, Satan, has a plan to destroy us. If he cannot stop us being born again he attacks our faith from every angle to disappoint us and make us lose hope. He wants us to blame God for failing us. Let us not fall into this ugly trap but let us rather believe what God has said because His Word is true.
Elijah never lost his confidence in God when he faced off with the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18 v 22 - 24:
"22 Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men.
23 Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under:
24 And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken."
Those prophets of Baal performed powerfully over their bullock for a whole day but no fire came from their god. Elijah poured water over the wood to make it less likely to catch fire and called on Almighty God to answer by fire and He did. He consumed both bullocks, and Elijah slew the prophets of Baal. That's faith that moves mountains.
When we walk in right standing with God He hears and answers our prayers. When He wants a certain thing done right He uses circumstances to build faith.
Like Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt to the Promised Land.
God needed to build up both the faith of Moses, and of the Israelites who had to blindly follow this man they did not know. So God allowed Pharoah to harden his heart against Moses and his brother Aaron. Moses needed Aaron as he had a speech impediment. This resistance by Pharoah resulted in ten plagues coming on Egypt......rivers turned to blood, frogs, lice, cattle blight, extreme darkness, and eventually death of the first born male of every family including the flocks of sheep and herds of cattle.
This death never touched any Jew that had painted the lintels of their doors with the blood of lambs but it took Pharoah's son and he finally let them go. This was the original Passover, when the Angel of death passed over the homes of the Israelites.
A few days later Pharoah changed his mind and he with his army chased after them. This resulted in Moses being criticized for leaving the Jews vulnerable until God said stretch your rod over the sea and the water parted and the Israelites walked to freedom on dry land. The water stayed parted until the Egyptians were half way across and it closed over on top of them, wiping them out.
We have faith in God for a reason. We may have a mountain of debt, or sickness or stress but we can speak with the authority of Jesus to command that mountain to be cast into the sea. Then believe that He has it in His hands.
He may need to deal with issues surrounding our problems as He did with Pharoah. It may get worse before it gets better but let Jesus fix it, He knows what to do. Give Him time and be obedient to His instructions.
James 1 v 6 - 7: "But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord."
Jesus needs our faith to be strong in Him so He can move the mountains. We need the shield of faith to protect us from the fiery darts of Satan. We must expect Him to attack our faith by increasing the negative pressure around us. We must submit to God resist the Devil and he will flee.
We must stand against the enemy and resist him. In a real war both sides are attacking and defending. If we are passive while under attack we will be defeated. We must fight the good fight using our superior weapons like Israel against Gaza. The fiery balloons the Palestinians are sending to destroy the Jewish farms are countered by the terrorist strongholds being flattened by Israeli missiles. Hamas wants a cease-fire.
It was good to see Theresa May, the Conservative British Prime Minister, challenging the Labour opposition party on their anti-semitism stance in parliament yesterday. It's wonderful that the USA under the leadership of Donald Trump is magnificently supporting Israel. God will honour those who stand up for His chosen people.
If we stand firm against the enemy and refuse to back down, he will flee from us and the Lord Jesus will have the glory of victory for us. Good solutions will be found, the problems will diminish and we will have increased our faith muscles for our next encounter.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we rejoice in Your presence for the many answers to prayer and seeing the mountains be cast into the sea. Teach us Your ways O God that we may always be in right standing with You. Increase our faith so we fight the good fight. In Jesus' name. Amen.
