Your problems will always look bigger than your faith — move the mountain anyway. Continuing the Faith series, Pastor Nana Boadum walks from the mountain of Transfiguration to the valley below it (Matthew 17), with the woman with the issue of blood and the silent march around Jericho along the way, drawing out keys to living and practicing a faith that grows.
The seven movements
- Raise the volume on the good news. Faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17). Twelve years of bad reports had a voice in her life — but she turned the good news up and the negative news down, and faith grew into "if I touch the hem of His garment, I will be made whole" (Mark 5:25-34).
- Small faith moves big mountains — but a seed must not remain a seed. The mustard seed is a promise, not an insult: the size of the problem doesn't disqualify the faith. Plant it, water it — prayer, fasting, the word — until faith outgrows the problem (Matthew 17:20; 13:31-32).
- Faith gives you glimpses of heaven — don't build cabins there. Peter wanted three tabernacles to freeze the encounter. But encounters are fuel, not campsites: thank God for the "remember when" seasons, and keep moving (Matthew 17:1-8).
- Word + presence. On the mountain they heard the Father's voice and stood in His glory. A person of faith lives in the word of God and walks in the presence of God — you need both, and both must grow.
- Faith knows when to speak and when to be silent. Joshua 6:10 — march in silence until the day He says shout; the wall still falls. Sometimes the Lord fights for you and your only job is to keep still (Exodus 14:14).
- Failures don't disqualify you. The disciples — fresh from ministry success — couldn't help the suffering boy. Jesus corrects them and hands them the tools: this kind by prayer and fasting. Missteps send us back to the Lord, not away from Him (Matthew 17:14-21).
- Come down the mountain. Faith is a conduit. If it's only ever about your breakthrough, it never makes you a channel. God wants you to carry enough faith to be an answer to someone else's problem — not a mountain-top Christian, a functional Christian.
Walk away with this
Make the list of your problems — then plant your mustard seed anyway. Raise the volume on the good news, live in the word, walk in the presence, and come down the mountain carrying an answer for somebody else.