Richard Ray: Tell your mountains about your God

As a pastor serving on the small-church mission field, you encounter many obstacles in your life. At times, those obstacles seem like mountains. 

Richard RayI want to share with you two requirements our Lord expects from each of us if we desire to remove the mountains in our lives. Mark 11:22-24 says: “Then Jesus said to the disciples, ‘Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, “May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.’”

The first requirement is to have faith in God. Now, most pastors will say they have faith in God, but I have to ask: Do you have faith in God and in nothing else? It is not a matter of whether you rely on God, but rather: Do you depend on God and in nothing else? 

Jesus is not asking us to be a part of his life, but for him to be our life. Our devotion to him must be unequivocal. 

So often, when the mountains present themselves, we fall to our knees and pray in hope, not in faith. We pray in desperation, not in confidence. When you have a problem or situation, you do not need to tell God about it, because he already knows it. What we have to learn to do and what Jesus is teaching us to do is to tell our problems and our situations about God. Do not let your mountains stand in your way, but rather tell that mountain to move out of your way, because your faith in God commands it.

Second, faith will remove mountains. Once you put faith in God and God alone, only then can the mountains of your life and the mountains of your ministry be removed. In the ministry, some of those mountains seem too steep to climb, too high to cross and too large to overcome. Just remember the words of our Savior when he said: “But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.” 

As ministers, we must learn to pray without doubt, without looking over our shoulder or peaking around the corner. The small-church mission field forms many types of mountains, but do not allow those mountains to take the joy of ministry away from you. Pray as Jesus instructed; pray in faith. 

Remember, we only see the mountain, but God saw how the mountain was formed. So, tell your mountains, your problems and your situations about the God you serve and how he is going to remove the mountains from your life and your ministry, because you have faith in God and God alone.

To learn more about your Bivocational/Small Church Association, you may view our website at www.bivocational.com or email me at [email protected]. 

Remember, God has called you to serve him, but God has not called you to serve alone. Let us be your advocate, your resource and your prayer partner as you fulfill your calling.

Richard Ray is executive director of the Bivocational/Small Church Association and director of missions for the Tri-Rivers Baptist Area. You can reach him at [email protected].