With all the problems going on and the Covid-19 pandemic, there is an enormous amount of prayer going up. We’ve all got a different way of praying. Some like to read or recite prayers that have been written down, some will pray out loud but still with a degree of formality. But to me, prayer is a conversation because God is my Father, and that’s how I talk to Him! As a Father! When I grew up we had to have a lot of respect for our fathers. Children today speak to their fathers in a very down to earth way! But that’s how we have to talk to God!
Mark 11 is a tremendous challenge and a tremendous promise! Mountain moving faith does not come from the formality of reading prayers or reciting the Lord’s Prayer, it is something quite different! What Jesus is teaching us here is that it is not always a question just of ‘prayer’, but a declaration in FAITH, a command in FAITH: MOUNTAIN, MOVE!
Let me take you to Mark 11. Here we have an amazing example of prayer! Jesus was going from Bethany where He had stayed the night, up to Jerusalem over the Mount of Olives. He came to a fig tree and looked – only leaves, no fruit... There is a danger, there are some Christians who are all leaves and no fruit!!! All noise, all shout – and no result. So what did Jesus do? I’m afraid He cursed it, saying, “Let no man eat of this tree for ever!” And they went on into Jerusalem, where He cast out the money changers and those who bought and sold in the Temple, and the scribes and chief priests plotted how to destroy Him. Then the following morning, as they passed by again on their way from Bethany to Jerusalem, Peter saw that the tree was dried up from the roots! He remembered and said, “The fig tree which You cursed is withered and dead!”
Jesus answered and said, “Have FAITH in God! Truly I say to you, whosoever shall say to this mountain (that would be the Mount of Olives where they were), ‘be removed and cast into the sea’ (that would be the Dead Sea to the East), and shall not doubt in his heart, but believe that those things which he says shall come to pass – he shall have whatever he says!” That’s a tremendous challenge and a tremendous promise! This is not the formality of reading prayers or reciting the Lord’s Prayer, this is something quite different! What Jesus is teaching us here is that it is not always a question just of ‘prayer’, but a declaration in FAITH, a command in FAITH: MOUNTAIN, MOVE!
I can tell you a very powerful story about that, because when I was in the communist prison – it was in Czechoslovakia – I was given a book in English to read. It was the account of Marco Polo’s travels with the Chinese Emperor, Kublai Khan. They came to a village where there were some Christian believers. The Emperor challenged them, “You see that mountain outside the village? Your Bible says, if you believe, you can command that mountain to move. I will give you three days, and if it hasn’t moved, I will kill you!” Marco Polo records that on the first day they prayed, “O God save us! We’re going to die!” Nothing happened. On the second day they looked for the one who was the most religious and they put all the responsibility on him to pray! He was only a shoemaker. And still nothing happened. On the third day the Emperor returned. He said, “The mountain hasn’t moved, you’re all going to die. But before you do, I want to watch you pray one last time. Your God has no power!” This time instead of ‘praying’, they spoke to the mountain, they commanded it, “MOVE!” They took Authority! And it is recorded by Marco Polo in that book I was reading in the prison, that the mountain MOVED! There IS Power when we command in the Name of Jesus!
Jesus continues in Mark 11, “Whatever you desire, when you pray, BELIEVE you shall receive it, and you shall have it!” This is a complete contrast with just reading or reciting prayers! This is prayer with Authority.
To me, the most powerful prayers that I’ve read in the Bible are in the Old Testament. As Solomon kneels on that altar in 2 Chronicles 6, he’s crying out to God to FULFIL every Promise, to VERIFY all the Promises He has made! There should come a time in our own praying when we are calling on God to fulfil His Promises!!! This is why we need to pray over the Word of God! We need to SEEK the Word of God! Whatever my crisis, I SEEK God through His Word! God never, ever fails! God has never once – in all my 70 years of ministry – failed to keep the Promises He has made to me! That applies to everything, not just healings, but to every single thing! I STAND ON THE WORD OF GOD – AND GOD ANSWERS!
Now I would turn you to another Scripture, 2 Chronicles 6. I’m very moved, because to me, the most powerful prayers that I’ve seen in the Bible are in the Old Testament. Solomon has completed the building of the Temple and this is the dedication. It says in vv12 that he stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the people and spread out his hands towards Heaven. He had made a brazen scaffold immediately in front of the altar and he stood on it, v13, and kneeled on his knees and began to say in vv14-17, “O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like You, who keeps Your Covenant… that You have kept with David my father, all the things that You promised… Now O Lord God of Israel, keep with David all those things which You have promised and fulfilled with Your Hand… Now let Your Word be VERIFIED which You have spoken to Your servant David!”
Wow! As Solomon kneels on that altar, he’s crying out to God to FULFIL every Promise, to VERIFY all the Promises He has made! There should come a time in our own praying when we are calling on God to fulfil His Promises!!! This is why we need to pray over the Word of God! We need to SEEK the Word of God! Whatever my crisis, I SEEK God through His Word! I have three separate Bibles: my preaching Bible which obviously I use when I’m preaching, my prayer Bible that I keep beside my bed, and in my office I keep the one I call my ‘satellite navigation’, it’s the one I look to for direction. They’re actually three different translations, but that’s how I SEEK God in His Word. I want you to understand, there is an Authority and Power in the Word of God. Every time I was searching for healing – my throat cancer in 1964, my lung cancer in 2002/3 – every time I am praying for a miracle, I LOOK for the answer in the Word of God! When I was in the prison 1972/3, every time, whatever the problem, God always gives me a Promise from His Word that I STAND ON! Then I can be like Solomon and say, “O God, fulfil EVERY Promise!” And God never, ever fails! God has never once – in all my 70 years of ministry – failed to keep the Promises He has made to me! That applies to everything, not just healings, but to every single thing! I STAND ON THE WORD OF GOD – AND GOD ANSWERS!