“For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.” Mark 11:23-26 “ ‘…For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be removed and be cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says…’ At the New Year, a proud man considers the days and months ahead, and thinks, ‘I have achieved a great deal without God and need no help from Him.’ A proud man reads the verse quoted at the beginning, and being sleek, well fed, self-reliant, and self-confident, he believes he is ready by his own efforts to move mountains, tear down his old barns, put up bigger ones, stuff them full of his achievements and ‘take [his] ease’ for years to come (Lk. 12:17-19). The Christian who reads this same verse prays (Mk. 11:24), believes that God provides, forgives, and calls God, ‘our Father in heaven’. A new year requires him to work, but the focus of his attention will be on God. Self-confidence will not occur to him, for he assumes, ‘Our help is in the Name of the Lord...’ (Ps. 123:8). Children of the Lord, we are they who pray to ‘our Father in heaven.’ Therefore, look to Him to provide. Of course, when we say this, another question arises: ‘Who is our Father in heaven?’ As you ask this and search the Scriptures, you will encounter the record of God’s self-revelation. The God of Holy Scriptures is none other than ‘our Father in heaven,’ He Who has made a well-planned and thoroughly documented effort to disclose His character to us and what He expects of us. And what do the Scriptures teach us about Him and His expectations? In a very summary way, ‘our Father in heaven’ is He Who created you, He in Whose creation you live and move and have your being (Acts 17:28), He Who outlines how you are to live, act, speak, think, and feel, and He Who provides what you need to fulfill what He expects. Consider life with an earthly father: children depend on their father, and try to respect him and do his will. Likewise, we declare to our heavenly Father, ‘...Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ (Mt. 6:9-10). Therefore to live with God year by year, means to ‘Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth’ (2 Tim. 2:15). The child of God who genuinely cares about the will of ‘our Father in heaven,’ earnestly seeks to discern and do the will of God the Father (Jn. 14:15). The continuing study of Scripture and a sustained effort to do the will of God leads the Faithful to worship the Lord among His People, to pray as He instructs. There, in the bosom of the family of ‘our Father in heaven,’ you will learn that you need the healing of our Father to be transformed into what He means you to be. Therefore, you must apply many hard lessons: forgive that you may receive God’s forgiveness, love that you may receive God’s love, rid yourself of hate because God has no hate in Him. You learn never to murder, not even in thought. You learn not to steal, lie, corrupt others, nor misuse your body that He has given you. Honestly, the mountain before me is pride. Such is the condition of each new year. Of this Blessed Theophylact says: ‘a proud man should rebuke this mountain, this passion of pride which besets him and strives to drive him away from God’s protection and providence, for it is pride that makes a proud man say that he can accomplish all things by himself without God’s help. Such a man ought to say to his pride, Be removed, and be cast into the sea...’” (Taken from Dynamis Publications)
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 16:28:50 +0000
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