03 MAY

SECRETS OF ANSWERED PRAYERS (2)
(MOUNTAIN-MOVING FAITH)

“I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”

(Matthew 17:20)

Here is an inspiring story on how faith can move mountains – literally!

A small congregation in the foothills of the Great Smokies built a new sanctuary on a piece of land willed to them by a church member. Ten days before the new church was to open, the local building inspector informed the pastor that the parking lot was inadequate for the size of the building. Until the church doubled the size of the parking lot, they would not be able to use the new sanctuary.

Unfortunately, the church had used every inch of their land except for the mountain against which it had been built. In order to build more parking spaces, they would have to move the mountain out of the back yard. Undaunted, the pastor announced the next Sunday morning that he would meet that evening with all members who had “mountain moving faith,” for a prayer session to ask God to remove the mountain from the back yard and to provide money to have it paved and painted. That evening, 24 of the 300 members assembled for prayer. They prayed for nearly three hours. “We’ll open next Sunday as scheduled,” the Pastor assured everyone when they said the final Amen. “God has never let us down before, and I believe He will be faithful this time too.” 

The next morning as he was working in his study, there was a knock at his door. A construction foreman entered. “Excuse me, Reverend. I’m from Acme Construction Company in the next county. We’re building a huge new shopping mall over there and we need some fill dirt. Would you be willing to sell us a chunk of that mountain behind the church? We’ll pay you for the dirt we remove and pave all the exposed area free of charge.”

The church was dedicated the next Sunday as planned!

ACTION: Activate and exercise your faith – no matter how small it seems – and don’t waste your energy on the faith you do not have.

PRAYER: Thank you, Lord, that my mountain-moving faith does not have to be as big as my mountains.