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Summary: All of us have some kind of mountain in our way that we struggle with day by day. We try to manage it in a variety of ways like the man at the pool had. He had difficulties that were mountains, and years went by without the problem being resolved.

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Introduction: All of us have some kind of a mountain in our way that we struggle with day by day. We try to manage it in a variety of ways like the man at the pool had. He had difficulties that were mountains, and years went by without the problem being resolved. The mountain for him was still there after 38 years. Maybe he put up with his disability for so long that he had learned to live with it. Jesus spoke to him and asked him, “Do you want to be well?” What kind of question was that? One would think that everyone would say, “Of course I want to be well,” but he answered in an evasive way. He said every time I get ready to jump into the pool someone gets in ahead of me, and he had no one to help him into the pool besides. That was his answer—no one to help me and someone gets ahead of me. Jesus did not comment on his explanation. He said two things. “Get up. Pick up your bed and walk.” It’s hard to tell what the man was thinking when Jesus said that. He could have insisted that he sure couldn’t do that. Couldn’t for 38 years. He still came to the pool every day but it was futile o think he would be able to beat someone into the water.

How many times are we just like that? We pray the same prayer over for years and there is no change because there is one reason or another why our mountain can’t be removed. We say my mountain cannot be removed because or my mountain cannot be removed until. When Jesus dealt with this man’s mountain, He said get up and pick up your bed and walk. For once the man heard what Jesus said and stood to his feet and left his place of disability. He stood up and the mountain was gone in spite of trying to figure it out for years.

2. What is causing your mountain to stay for years on end? Have you identified what your mountain really is? Or do you give an excuse for why it is still there?

What do you do when God removes your mountain? When our prayer is answered? Sometimes we don’t realize that the mountain is gone and pray the same old prayer over the next day and the next. Mark 11:22 says “what things soever ye desire when ye pray believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them.” At the time you pray. Don’t keep seeing the mountain looming before you. That’s how we usually do. We visualize the wrong things. We say I can’t instead of I can. Do we expect our mountain to be removed? Another verse tells us to speak to the mountain. What do you want your mountain to do?

“Say unto this mountain be thou removed and cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart it shall be removed.” Our number one problem is we pray but really don’t believe it will happen. Before you change do you really want to be changed or is change too scary for you?

The man at the pool didn’t have to work. He was living off of donations. What if he had to get a job now and change his lifestyle. What if when God removes the mountain we would have to change in our ways and it would e carry or we just don’t want to. There are a lot of thing to consider. He was just in a pattern of settling for years. The same old same old. Do you ever just settle?

Sometimes we can’t remember how long it has been sine we have had a mountain removed? How long has it been since we have had a prayer answered? What would it look like when our mountain is gone? As long as you still see the mountain there, you have an excuse. Say unto the mountain, “Be thou removed and cast into the sea and shall not doubt and it shall be done.”

So what are you going to do once God has remove the mountain? How will you fill the empty spaces?

3. Be Ready to Move On: Begin Dreaming. If you could move on, where would it be? What would you want to do? What are you excited about? Anything, something, or nothing?

Do not cling to your mountain o the residual of the mountain once you have prayed. What do you do about the mountain when it is still there? Believe that it is not going to be forever. May take a while. Not always instantaneous. With health problems sometimes you are told, “You just have to learn to live with it. If it hasn’t happened by now, it never will. We can believe that or keep standing on the word of God. How do you fill in the empty space once the mountain is gone? You could take a baby step or a leap of faith. Speak out what you would like to do. Put your dreams and imagination into words. Say I would like to_______. How to make the transition after a long time may take some doing. Start very slowly or very confidently. Experiment by doing something new and different. I would like to and I think I will try it.

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