***Can Your Faith Move Mountains?

The other day I wrote an article on the arithmetic equation for having our prayers answered. A + B + F = C or affirmation plus believing plus forgiveness equals conclusion or answered prayer. Today I would like to concentrate on B or believing. What is meant by believing? The most common term used for this is faith. How much faith do you have that the prayer you prayed will be answered? In the Bible Mark 11:23- 26 says that if we truly belief in what we have affirmed such as telling a mountain to drop into the sea, God will make it happen. Do you have that deep a conviction that God will answer your prayers? Examples of those who did are the woman in Mark 5:25-34 who was bleeding for a very long period of time and touched Jesus’ garment to be healed and the paralyzed man lowered through the roof by his friends in Luke chapter 5. In Christ’s travels many must have touched him or bumped into him but these two individuals stand out because they truly believed that by knowing Christ and having faith in Him as the sole provider, helper and healer of all things that they too would be made whole once again. One lesson to be learnt here is that faith alone did not work. It was faith coupled with action that completed the miracles. James 2:20 says “faith without works is dead”. We also know that works without faith will not activate the power of God in us. When faced with a financial challenge what is your first reaction? Are you optimistic or pessimistic in your ability to overcome it? Do you recite Romans 8:28 which says “All things work together for good to those who love the Lord” or do you exclaim “I can’t believe this is happening to me, why me?” Do you look for the bright side of your situation or are you fixated on the challenges and negativity you face? Is the glass half empty or half full? How our circumstances affect us is largely determined by our attitude. If we focus on the limitations and negative qualities of any situation including our finances than that is all that we will see and attract into our lives. Someone once said – “You will find whatever you are looking for.” Look for the good, you will see it, look for the negative you will find it. Case in point is have you every purchased a car thinking you have never seen many of them on the road and as soon as you drove off the dealer’s lot you couldn’t help but notice quite a few others purchased the same model you did? Society has done a great job on having us focus on the negative aspects of life. To look for what is wrong with each person or situation instead of on what is good and uplifting. As Christians, Paul encourages us to focus on things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and worthy of praise. (Philippians 4:8). rnAre you fixated on financially what you don’t have? Do you have clutter? Then start looking at that clutter as cash and move it. It is right in front of you. No clutter and still having financial scarcity? Do you have a gift of baking, cooking, sewing, thank God for them and use them to generate the cash you lack by asking God to open those doors for you. The challenge isn’t noticing what we don’t have but what we do have and making the best of those gifts. Keep your faith focused on the Rock, act and you too will see the mountains move.