Give Me This Mountain

“Give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke, He said there would be giants, bigger and stronger and fortified stronghold cities.” (Joshua 14:12) Many an unbeliever has said the Bible was boring, but to anyone who knows the author it is the most exciting, insightful, adventuresome and informative book there is. And what is so wonderful is that every word in It is true. Jonah really was swallowed by a big fish; the Red Sea really was rolled back like a scroll to let Moses and the Children of Israel cross on dry land; David really did kill the giant, Goliath, with a sling shot and five stones; and Jesus really was born of a virgin, He did live on this earth, was crucified and died for our sins, was buried and rose from the dead by God’s resurrection power. God’s righteousness is a wonderful gift we are given when we are saved. It is our “breastplate” to protect us against the onslaughts of the enemy. His righteousness covers us so we never have to fear that Satan can steal this gift away or inflict a fatal wound to us so we would be lost to our Savior or hope to spend eternity in heaven. Our struggles are not with physical opponents and circumstances but with the master powers of this world and spirit forces of wickedness, so we must daily appropriate all of God’s gifts to stand against these forces and God will help us to be victorious and take the mountains and fight the giants in our life (Eph.6:10-18). We are promised victory in Jesus (Philippians 4:13). Consider Joshua because he was a man of faith who listened to what God said and led his people on a conquest to conquer the enemies’ territory which the Lord had promised his people. There were mountains to scale, giants to overcome and fortified cities to invade and conquer. What a hero, what a role-model, what an example! He was all those things not because he did any of them on his own and or that he was so courageous, but because he sought God for direction when he didn’t know the next step to take. He sought God for protection and courage when he knew there were great dangers ahead and enemies to destroy. There were walls he had to tear down and idols he had to destroy, and he did great exploits, but he chose to trust God through it all, and he challenged those under his command to, “Choose today whom you will serve, but for me and my house we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). He lived an intentional, faith-filled life to the end and died at 110 years old. He was buried on that mountain for which he had asked God. Have you, or are you now facing circumstances in your life that loom before you like an insurmountable mountain? Are your circumstances overwhelmingly big? Satan has a way of holding a magnifying glass of worry up to our mind’s eye that brings fear and anxiety to make our problems seem like mountains. When we are in a valley of discouragement it may seem like we are not only in the valley but under an immovable boulder of circumstances in that valley. We may be paralyzed with all kinds of fearful thoughts not knowing how we can possibly solve our heap of problems. But God has some leverages to roll that boulder off our back and a broad, level path on which to climb that mountain. God gives us some powerful spiritual weapons to fight those opposing giants and reminds us of His promises to give us “the mountain.” He tells us in Isaiah 54:17 that “no weapon formed against us shall prosper and every tongue spoken in judgment against us will be shown to be in the wrong because we are servants of the Lord and this is our inheritance.” The fundamental piece of our weaponry is the Word of God, which is the Sword of the Spirit. We must study It, meditate on It, appropriate It in our life and let It change us. God’s Word will show us our sin, instruct us in the Truth, guide us in life, comfort us in sorrow, encourage us in our failures and It gives us hope for this life and for eternity. As we skillfully wield this most powerful weapon It will destroy our enemies and build our faith in God. The Bible is God’s Word and It will never fail, become extinct nor pass away. God’s Word will stand forever! "Try It, you’ll like It." Prayer is another key weapon we have been given to climb our mountains and kill our giants. “The earnest, heartfelt and continued prayer of a righteous person makes tremendous power available – dynamic in its workings” (Jas. 5:16b Amp.) We are told in Psalm 66:18 that if we see and approve sin in our hearts that God will not hear us when we pray; so before coming before the Father in prayer we must agree with Him about the sin in our life so we may be forgiven, cleansed and healed from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9). When cleansed we can come boldly before the “throne of grace to present our needs” (Heb 4:16); and a big need we have is to conquer those mountains in our life. Because of prayers Peter was delivered from prison when he was chained, there were two guards by his side and there were sentries at the doors guarding the prison (Acts 6:6-19). “But urgent prayer was made to God by the Church.” This scripture tells of the mighty miracle of Peter’s release, all as a result of prayer. “That force of earnest prayer is mightier than any King’s or President’s authority, and mightier than all of hell.” There is no force that can stand against the power of earnest, faith filled prayer. If we have accepted Jesus as Lord in our life we have been given God’s own righteousness and we can come right into His presence to talk with Him about anything. We can tell Him about the areas in our life in which we are struggling and ask for help. We can pour out our heart over the hurt or fear in our life, or in someone else’s. Because of His righteousness He has given us we are filled with praise for Who He is and are so thankful for all He has done in our life and all He will do for us in the future. The Word tells us that God inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3), so God is there! Praise and thanksgiving are mighty weapons to dispel anxiety over taking the mountain. Consider the mountain Jehoshaphat conquered in II Chronicles 20. Although he was afraid, he set himself determinedly, and all of Judah, to seek the Lord with all their heart by prayer, fasting, believing God’s Word for possession of their mountain, which was their inheritance, but was inhabited by their enemies who were strong and many in number. They acknowledged their weakness and that they didn’t know what to do, but their eyes were on God. The Lord heard their cries and told them, “The battle is not yours but God’s.” Jehoshaphat, with Judah and Jerusalem, obeyed, sang praises to God and thanked Him for His everlasting mercy and loving kindness. The results: the enemy was self-slaughtered and Jehoshaphat and Judah received their mountain – Victory! As Joshua conquered and overcame by faith and courage. We also must live by faith in the only One Who can and will fight our battles for us and will enable us to conquer and overcome the mountains in our life. The first weapon we must acquire is our salvation from sin and the devil’s kingdom and power. Our salvation and all our weapons are gifts given by our Father Who has wonderful plans for us, to prosper us; to give us peace and a hope for the future (Jer. 29:11). He has given us His Truth and we don’t have to be deceived by the lies of Satan. We can know the Truth of Who Jesus is, Who the Father is, and who our enemy is and his tactics to defeat us. Faith in the Truth will set us free from the bondage of Satan. Don’t forget Esther (Esther 2), who learned obedience when being raised by Mordecai, her cousin. She learned sacrificial courage to climb her mountain when presented with Mordecai’s challenge (4:14-16). Taking Esther’s mountain meant life or death to her and all her people, and because of her courageous obedience God gave Esther her mountain (her life and the lives of her people). We also can be God’s victors by fully committing to Him, seeking the Truth in His Word and then in prayer and faith courageously obey His will and His ways and rejoicing in “Him Who is able to do abundantly all we could ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20). Got any rivers you think are uncrossable? Got any mountains you can’t tunnel through? God specializes in things thought impossible. He’ll do for you what no other one can do. (Oscar C. Eliason)