Mountains And Mustard Seeds

Do you have any mountains in your life right now? Maybe more realistically I should ask, what mountains do you have in your life right now? What I mean is, are there any difficult things or tasks that you are facing in your life? Maybe you have an important doctors appointment coming up that makes you a little nervous, maybe you are changing jobs, or working on mending a relationship in your life. Mountains are large in size and I’m sure some of your tasks that you are facing right now seem quite large as well, maybe they even seem impossible. Do not get discouraged my friends! No matter how large that mountain seems or how difficult the struggle feels nothing is impossible with our God!

First of all, let us be encouraged with the fact that every struggle in our life is a blessing from God! God is in control of all things and He works all things out for the good of His children. (Romans 8:28) Even during difficult times in our lives, we can rest assured knowing that our God is in control and He always blesses us perfectly with exactly what we need according to His will. I know that struggles do not seem easy and they can seem quite painful when we are going through them, but once we have experienced them we can look back and see that they were a blessing meant to strengthen us and God blesses us with those blessings to sanctify us. God blesses us with struggles in our lives to further develop us into the child of God that He has created us to be. Remember, in our Savior Jesus, we are God’s precious and dearly loved children and when we experience struggles we should endure them as discipline, for God is treating us as His children! (Hebrews 12:7) We are being molded and prepared by our Heavenly Father to glorify Him and, when this earthly life is over, we get to spend eternity with Him in heaven! Hebrews 12:11 tells us that “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (NIV) God is blessing us through our struggles to shape us further into the child of God that He has created us to be! We should praise God for our struggles for they are blessings in our lives! James 1:2-4 says that we should “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (NIV) So let us praise God for our struggles and rejoice in our sufferings for we are being trained to live a life that glorifies God by God Himself who is our Heavenly Father!

As we read in James 1, the testing of our faith produces perseverance. Hebrews 11:1 says “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (NIV) Remember, it is by grace we have been saved through faith and our faith is the gift of God! (Ephesians 2:8) God blessed us with His free gift of salvation in His Son Jesus, even though we deserve punishment and death because of our sins, and this free gift is to be received by faith. When we accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, God blessed us with our faith in His Son and He blessed us with forgiveness for all of our past, present and future sins for all of eternity and eternal life in Jesus! Praise God for His endless grace and His perfect Salvation in our Savior Jesus! When we accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, then Jesus lives in our inner being! If you have Jesus living in you, then praise God for the faith that He has blessed you with in His Son! 1 Peter 1:8-9 says “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (NIV) As a believer in Jesus, God has blessed you with your faith in His Son and you have received salvation for your soul in Him! Faith is an incredible, never ending, perfect blessing from God! Praise God that He loves us so completely that He sent His Son to die for our sins and redeem us, sinful man, from sin and death so that we can now spend eternity in heaven with our Savior Jesus! Praise God for His perfect grace!

By God’s grace and through faith in His Son, Jesus, we receive Salvation for our souls! Everything and anything is possible with God! Matthew 19:26 says that “Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. (NIV) And in Mark 9:23 we read “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” (NIV) So with these truths in mind, have faith! God is in control of all things, He works all things out for your good (Romans 8:28) and nothing is impossible with our God! Let me say it again, nothing, not a single thing, is impossible with our God! Everything is possible with our God! We read in Matthew 17:20 that “He replied, “Because you have so little faith. 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.” (NIV) Have you ever seen a mustard seed? It is teeny tiny! Have faith my dear friends! Your God knows exactly what you need in each moment of your life and He will always bless you with exactly what you need in each moment of your life! If you are experiencing a struggle in your life right now, praise God! Go humbly before your God in prayer and commit yourself to Him. Relinquish whatever is troubling you, commit it to God! As 1 Peter 5:7 says “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. (NIV) Ask God to rid you of all offensive ways and pray that He will continue to sanctify you and shape you into the child of God that He has called you to be. Remember to believe that you have what you are asking for in prayer and it will be yours! (Mark 11:24) God is faithful even when we are not and He will always bless you with exactly what you need! Ask God to make you continue living to glorify Him according to His will and ask Him to make you continue to always do good. Pray 1 Peter 4:19 for your life which says “So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. (NIV) Remember, God is faithful and it is God who works in us to do His will! (Philippians 2:13) So be encouraged, God is always working in you and through you, according to His will, and He is always blessing you perfectly every step of the way!

So now, when you think about those mountains that seem so large think about that tiny mustard seed of faith that is larger and more powerful than any mountain you will ever face! See what incredible things are done with even a little faith, think about the incredible things that are done with mountainous faith! If Jesus is living in you as your personal Lord and Savior, then God has blessed you with faith in the Son of God and in Him you are eternally forgiven for all of your sins and you are looking forward to an eternal home in heaven with your Savior Jesus! You have been blessed with faith that led to the salvation of your soul! Have faith in your God my dear friend! Don’t worry about a thing, God is in control and He is going to bless you with perfect blessings that you cannot foresee or even imagine! Life with Jesus only gets better and better and it leads up to eternity in heaven! There is no greater blessing than Salvation in our Savior Jesus! Praise God that He loves us so perfectly that He would redeem us from sin and death even when we are deserving of wrath! It is God alone who we sin against and it is God alone who blesses us with His grace and eternal redemption and Salvation in His Son! We are perfectly and eternally blessed in our Savior Jesus! Have faith and be strong in the Lord, for He is our strength and He is the author and perfecter of our faith!