M – motivation
O – obedience
V – vision from God
E – endurance
God is the only one who knows why that mountain is there and how to move it!!
“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” – James 1:5 (NIV)
We must always remember that mountains are opportunities for us to get closer to God.
13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
– Matthew 16:13-16 (NIV)
What matters most is who we say Jesus Christ is. We cannot get to Heaven just because we go to church. Someone is always watching us to see who we say He is. Don’t let the stuff in your life be bigger than Him.
When we think about the mountains in our lives, they grow. Even though we might get knocked down today, when we obey and endure we claim victories.
We must have FAITH IN GOD!
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. – Romans 10:17 (KJV)
Our mountain is not one big mountain – it is lots of small rocks. Those rocks could be…
Fear, depression, laziness, your posse, disease, drugs, curses, anger, work/job, cars, temptation, past life/mistakes, sickness, stress, sports, house, relationships, cigarettes, pornography, sins, anxiety, jealousy, pride, alcohol, lust, money, school, grudges, weight, self-esteem, lies, or anything else we worry or stress over.
If we don’t deal with it right away, it adds up and outweighs our faith in God.
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When we put more and more faith in God, the mountain starts to fall.
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Most of the mountains are fluff and filter, made to look bigger by satan’s smoke screen. Every mountain is made of the same building blocks – the foundation of it. Let’s start examining those blocks and tear them down.
“You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me…” – Exodus 20:5
Generational Curses are REAL.
Many of the things we think of as “bad habits” or something “that just happens to us” are really spirits passed down from generation to generation as a curse. If you look back to your parents and your grandparents, what similarities do you see between yourself and them?
Addictions? Rage? Procrastination? Denial? Illness? Sins? Financial problems? Divorce?
No matter how simple or how complex, it can still be a generational curse.
14 “But suppose this son has a son who sees all the sins his father commits, and though he sees them, he does not do such things:
15 “He does not eat at the mountain shrines
or look to the idols of the house of Israel.
He does not defile his neighbor’s wife.
16 He does not oppress anyone
or require a pledge for a loan.
He does not commit robbery
but gives his food to the hungry
and provides clothing for the naked.
17 He withholds his hand from sin
and takes no usury or excessive interest.
He keeps my laws and follows my decrees.
He will not die for his father’s sin; he will surely live. 18 But his father will die for his own sin, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother and did what was wrong among his people.
19 “Yet you ask, ‘Why does the son not share the guilt of his father?’ Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live. 20 The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him.
21 “But if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die.
– Ezekiel 18:14-21
We CAN break these curses!!
This is spiritual warfare, folks, and we have to be prepared. Demonic oppression is very real. Everyone deals with it, although the degree of the oppression will depend on how close we are in our relationship with God, how much we remain steadfast in our faith. Where the power of the Holy Spirit resides, there is no room for the devil.
Ready to break free of those curses?
Heavenly Father, I come before you to fully submit myself to Your will. I confess to You my iniquities, sins and transgressions, as well as those of my parents, grandparents, and all their ancestors. I plead the blood of the Lamb over these generational curses, that I and my children behind me may be forever cleansed of these sins. I AM A CHILD OF GOD! I claim the full authority of Jesus Christ that the chains that once bound me are now broken, that the demons attacking my life are cast back into the sea. No longer shall I be bound by the sins of those that came before me. Father, anoint my life, my family, my home, and all that I do with Your presence, and fill it with the power of the Holy Spirit. I ask this in the name of Your son, Jesus Christ, Amen. I AM FREE!
Now that you’re free from generational curses, here’s a thank you prayer. Take it with you, put a copy of it anywhere you’ll see it and pray it every day.
I thank you, Father, that I am free from the generational curse. I do not inherit anything from my parents or grandparents. I am a new creation in Jesus Christ. Old things are passed away and all things are new. I am a child of God and as a Joint Heir with Jesus, I receive the Keys to the Kingdom and all that the Kingdom of God has to offer. I live under the new covenant with better blessings. I am blessed in the city and I am blessed in the country. Everything I set my hands to do is blessed. My children are and will be blessed too. I am the head and not the tail, above only and not beneath. I am a Victor by the authority of God’s Word through the work of Jesus on the cross for me. I AM FREE!!
Temptations
The devil tempts us with stuff that appeals to us. My temptations may not be the same as yours.
1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
3The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
4Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’ ”
5The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7So if you worship me, it will all be yours.”
8Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’ ”
9The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here.
10For it is written:
” ‘He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
11they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. ‘ ”
12Jesus answered, “It says: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test. ‘ ”
13When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
– Luke 4:1-13
All temptations can be broken down to one of three things:
Lust of the flesh – remember that “someone” that you wanted so badly to notice you?
Lust of the eyes – we want what we see. Ads are good at convincing us of this.
Pride of life – keeping up with Jones’
Jesus overcame the temptations by the Word of God.
IT IS WRITTEN!!
Lies that lead to mountains (aka satan’s top 10 list)
8. ???? Everything satan says is a lie!
7. Your past is too great for you to overcome.
– The blood of Jesus CAN and WILL overcome it!
6. You need to clean up (your behavior, clothes, etc.) before you come to God.
– You can’t clean yourself up. You need God’s help to do it!
– God will clean up our messes.
5. You have failed too many times – why bother?
– God specializes in helping us up every time we fall.
– God’s deal for me: If I try my best to live for Him, He’ll pick me up and dust me off when I fall and tell me to keep walking.
4. Broken rules have no consequences.
– God will show us the consequences until we learn our lesson, but He’ll also be there to help us.
3. You are more spiritual than you really are.
– God wants us to submit to His authority. The closer we get to God, the more we will realize what we are not.
– God is looking for the inward manifestation of His presence, not the outward.
2. You can live for God without discipline in your life.
– NO YOU CAN’T!!!
– Church attendance (“It’ll be okay if I skip just this once.”)
– Bible reading (see note above)
– Prayer (see note above)
– We NEED to be in church in order to fellowship with other believers. We need to spend time daily reading our bibles to study His Word (So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. – Romans 10:17) We need to spend time in prayer to know God’s will for us.
– A 3-strand cord is not easily broken. Weave all three together and we ca only grow stronger in our faith.
1. You have plenty of time.
– NO YOU DON’T!!!
– Every time you wait, a mountain gets bigger.
– The longer you wait, the harder it is.
– We are not guaranteed a tomorrow. We could die in our sleep, choke on a piece of dinner, be killed in a car crash on the way to work. God could come to Rapture His people before you can even finish this reading.
– If you knew for certain that you would die tonight, wouldn’t you want to give your life to God? Since very few of us know the time of our death, it’s important that we not wait to submit our lives to God.
The devil does not care about you, and he doesn’t care about me. All he cares about is getting even with God. We were created in God’s image. Every time the devil sees us, he takes his anger towards God out on us.
Keep putting the Truth in to push the lies out.
Idolatry
The devil works in code. he wants you to not see what is really there. To do this, he uses idols. An idol is anything you put before God.
1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
7″Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
8Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
– John 5:1-9
We are each responsible for our own relationships with God. We cannot make excuses and blame our inability on someone else.
When we get comfortable with our place in life, with our misery, we’ve made our circumstance an idol.
Blessing – when God comes into ourself and imparts His will in our life.
20Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”
22Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed from that moment.
– Matthew 9:20-22
Are you a fighter? Are you focused enough to break through the circumstances and find God?
The devil wants us to become consumed with something other than God.
If we get consumed with the wrong things, we build a mountain before us and God.
“If you seek after Me, all the things you care about will be taken care of…”
– paraphrased, I’m not certain of the original scripture
The devil wants to show us what we don’t have. God wants to show us what we do have.
Make a list of your consumables. Is God at the top? If not, you’re in trouble.
Unbelief
If we focus on sharing Jesus with others and leading others to Jesus, most our mountains would fall on their own.
The CRUX of all foundations: when we forget Whose We Are!!!
When I forget I am a child of God, the devil has more opportunity to build mountains in my life.
I am a child of God redeemed by the blood of the Lamb!!!
The rubble and trash behind us remind us of what God has brought us through. He will take that trash and with the power of the Holy Spirit, He’ll turn it into an alter to Him!
1 The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”
Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to the test?”
3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”
4 Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
5 The LORD answered Moses, “Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”
– Exodus 17:1-7
When we quit surrendering our lives to God, we will feel like we are on our own.
He wants you to have alter moments because He wants you to know He was there.
Are you ready to tear down those mountains?
Get Motivated!
Stop playing games with God!!
God can hear our thoughts and whispered prayers.
satan cannot. Silence does not work with the devil. he is waiting on instructions from us and is poised for an opportunity to get in our mind. he wants the battle to take place in our mind in order to confuse us. he wants us to think we can “think” him to stop so he can win.
But we can’t. WE MUST VERBALLY TELL HIM TO STOP.
Everything has been taken care of for us to overcome – except our own willingness to let it happen.
It’s up to us!!
Even though I’ve struggled, I’m still a VICTOR!!
We will never overcome until we declare with our mouth the Word of God. We need the blood of the Lamb, the Word of testimony, and crucifixion of the flesh.
And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.”
– 1 Kings 18:41
Rain is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. Get Ready. A storm is coming!
Even though the rain is coming, we still have to get on our face before God and pray. We have to keep praying, keep pushing, and keep persevering until the rain comes.
We have to keep looking to God or we’re going to miss it.
8 Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, “I will set up my camp in such and such a place.”
9 The man of God sent word to the king of Israel: “Beware of passing that place, because the Arameans are going down there.” 10 So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.
11 This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, “Will you not tell me which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?”
12 “None of us, my lord the king,” said one of his officers, “but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.”
13 “Go, find out where he is,” the king ordered, “so I can send men and capture him.” The report came back: “He is in Dothan.” 14 Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city.
15 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” the servant asked.
16 “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
17 And Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
– 2 Kings 6:8-17
When it seems like you’re surrounded, call on God to open your eyes and let you see.
Once more the Philistines came up and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim;
– 2 Samuel 5:22
The devil will come back time and time again but don’t quit. God will fight our battles for us.
Coffee and Caramel 