I Want The Mountain!

I want the mountain God has promised me

Illus.

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 with its undersized parking lot 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.

MOUNTAIN-MOVING FAITH

Undaunted, the pastor announced the next Sunday morning that he would meet that evening with all members who had "mountain moving faith." They would hold a prayer session asking God to remove the mountain from the back yard and to somehow provide enough money to have it paved and painted before the scheduled opening dedication service the

following week.

At the appointed time, 24 of the congregation's 300 members assembled for prayer. They prayed for nearly three hours. At ten o'clock the pastor said the final "Amen." "We'll open next Sunday as scheduled," he assured everyone. "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 came a loud knock at the pastor's door. When he called, "Come in," a rough looking construction foreman appeared, removing his hard hat as he entered.

"Excuse me, Reverend. I'm from Acme Construction Company over

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, if we

can have it right away. We can't do anything else until we get the

dirt in and allow it to settle properly."

The little church was dedicated the next Sunday as originally planned and there were far more members with "mountain moving faith" on opening Sunday than there had been the previous week!

Jeremiah 32:17 KJV

Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, [and] there is nothing too hard for thee.

Sometimes we try to make things hard for God to do, because with our limited thinking, we think there too hard to do. But as TBS "Nothing is to hard for God!"

Jesus came so we could experience the abundant life, Jesus came so we could all experience the promised land God has prepared for His Children!

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So if God has promised us the mountain, why do so many choose to live in the foothills? Instead of living on the mountain, with all the promises and benefits that God has already chosen to provide for us?

Psalms 68:19,20 NKJ

19 Blessed be the Lord,

Who daily loads us with benefits,

The God of our salvation! Selah

20 Our God is the God of salvation;

And to GOD the Lord belong escapes from death.

What exactly are the benefits that God makes available to us, each and everyday?

Because of our salvation experience and our relationship we have with God, we are not limited to a certain number of benefits. We are entitled to all of the benefits God has thought of, or created! Amen!

Kind of gives new meaning to Jeremiah 29:11 NRSV

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope!

The word Surely, defined as used in the scripture: used to emphasize the speaker's firm belief that what they are saying is true and often their surprise that there is any doubt of this. Long story short, God means what He says and expects us to take Him at His word!

There are some 1,500 promises in the Bible!

To name a few, God has promised us;

Love,

Grace,

Eternal Life,

Forgiveness,

Our Health,

Sound mind,

Favor,

Our needs to be met,

To give us the desires of our hearts,

The power to obtain wealth,

The measure of Faith to be able to believe all the good things He has created for and wants us to have and walk in!

All of the promises of God are summed up, in the two words Jesus came for and to deliver to us! ABUNDANT LIFE!!

John 10:10 NKJ

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.