We have come to the close of our series, ‘Move the Mountains’ and we’ve seen our hearts stirred to trust God for a faith-filled year, a year where the impossible starts to take traction in and through our lives.
‘Move the Mountains’ is more than a simple vision statement or Christian catch-phrase. It is a longing and trusting in God to see mountains moved in people’s lives. We believe that through “faith as small as a mustard seed” we will see mountains moved through God’s power.
As we trust for mountains to be moved in our lives and in our community we need to be rooted in God.
With this in mind, here are three things to take hold of, deep within your soul, so that you can still see mountains move no matter whether you are full of faith or if you feel like you have no strength.
In John 15:1-8 we read:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
ABIDE
What does it mean to abide? Abiding is the act of receiving and trusting all that God is for us in Christ. If a branch remains in the vine, it is attached in such a way that it is receiving all that the branch has to give.
For us to abide in all that God is means that it is not a simple religious activity; a feeling, or a habit.
Slowing down and taking time for God means that we can trust all that He is so that all that He is can flow into us. When we abide in Jesus, there is an overflow of God’s power and presence in our lives
As Christians, abiding in Christ and being connected to the vine is not optional. The branch is connected to the vine, and the vine to the branch. We are connected to Jesus and He is in us. In every daily activity and interaction he should flow through us.
Abide IN
Abiding in him means that we can step out in faith.
For the branch to be connected to a vine means that the life-giving sap that is within the vine flows into the branch. This ensures that God is our provision, our sustenance, but more importantly that He is our abundance.
There will be times when the mountains in your life just seem to overwhelming, too numerous or present for too long. Often times it may feel as if you are in the wilderness, separate from God, and that the mountains in your life seem like they can no longer be moved.
God is with us in this season and He is using this season so that we might delight in his love and enter into a richer, fuller communion with him.
Verse 7 says, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” To abide in Christ and him in us calls us to soak in the word of God so that his word overflows in every aspect of our lives.
Abide in HIM
Matthew 17:20 says, “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.”
Seeing the mountains in your life moved, whether it be depression, addiction, divorce or financial pressure, requires faith. And faith is not powerful unless it is rooted in God.
A vine’s structure depends on the vinedresser. The vinedresser, tends to the vine, nurturing it and pruning it. The vinedresser installs a trellis in the vine to provide structure through every season. The vine is dependent on the vinedresser.
The whole design of our not being the vine, but being utterly dependent branches grafted into the vine, is to give glory to God.
Moving mountains is through his power alone and He lives in us.
John Piper says it this way: “Abiding means ‘that hour by hour you are trusting him to meet all your needs and to be all of your treasure.’”
That is what it means for a branch to be in the vine. Me to be in the vine means for me to rest there, trust there, draw down from there, and receive there. Everything I need is coming from Him. That is faith
That is faith that can move mountains.