By Michael Klassen and Thomas Freiling
Have you ever faced a mountain that seemed impossible to overcome? Perhaps you encountered a dilemma that required more than you could give. Is there a battle right around the corner that has you feeling ill-equipped?
The various mountains we face—
- difficult relationships
- destructive and sinful habits
- work situations
- stresses that don’t seem to go away—
reinforce to us that we’re human. Yet mountain or molehill, these battles cannot be overcome without the intervention of a loving heavenly Father who alone possesses the ability to scale the unscalable.
Mountains are beneficial because they serve as reminders of our inability and God’s ability. The apostle Paul wrote that our God is “able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20 NKJV, emphasis added). Any power at our disposal comes not from the power resident within us, but the grace of God working through us.
Does prayer change people, or does prayer change things? Somewhere in the middle of the crossfire lies the heart of true prayer. God desires first and foremost to change the hearts of men and women. His ultimate goal is to bring glory to Himself as His kingdom spreads throughout the earth. But through the changed hearts of His people, He chooses to do His work here on earth—through prayer. Prayer changes people, and, through changed people, prayer changes things.
Jesus chose a mountain to illustrate the awesome power of prayer (Mark 11:22–24) to address the countless “whatever things” that fill up our lives, be they great, small, or otherwise. Especially in the days before bulldozers and earthmovers, mountains symbolized the immovable. Mountains exemplified anything so ominous in a person’s life that it couldn’t be removed apart from the power of God. Mountains represented not only the seemingly insurmountable battles that strike fear in a person’s heart, but also the smaller daily struggles that persist in undermining our confidence in our faith walk with the Lord. And that is the power Jesus gave to his church through the Holy Spirit.
Pride, lust, an unsaved spouse, a broken relationship—all function as mountains in the lives of ordinary people. Some mountains are self-inflicted; others are inflicted upon us. Regardless, we all have mountains to climb and battles to fight. Fortunately, God doesn’t leave us alone on the side of those mountains to be buffeted by the gale-force winds they present.
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Throughout the Bible, mountains have symbolized not only the battles we face, but also the place where people encounter God’s life-giving presence.
Had an angel of the Lord not stopped him, Abraham would have offered his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice on the side of Mt. Moriah (Genesis 22). Moses encountered the burning bush and received the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 3, 19–20). The Temple, the center of Jewish worship, was built on Mt. Zion. The surrounding nations, understanding the connection, referred to Israel’s God as the God of the hills (1 Kings 20:28).
In Jesus’ life, the mountain was both a place of temptation where his humanity was tested (Matthew 4:8) and the transfiguration where his divinity was revealed (Matthew 17:1–2). Last of all, we look forward to the day when the mountain of the Lord’s temple is raised up for all the earth to see and where all the earth’s inhabitants will gather (Isaiah 2:2; Micah 4:1).
So, mountains operate as the location where both our battles and God’s presence meet. And oddly enough, the two are related. Our battles can lead us into the presence of God. The temptations we face can lead us into Jesus’ transfiguring presence, that is, when we go to him in prayer.
Most Christians understand that it’s important to pray. We all realize that prayer is essential to growing in our relationship with Jesus Christ and that, in some way, prayer makes a difference. It’s the hows and whats of prayer that seem to keep us from doing what we really know we should do. And what we want to do.
Ask people to describe the biggest hurdles they face in prayer, and you will probably hear one of two answers:
- “I just don’t have the motivation and commitment to make it a vital part of my life.”
- “I’d pray longer, but after five or ten minutes, I don’t know what to say.”
But if you knew that your prayers would really make a difference in your life and the lives of others, would you be more inclined to pray?
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A Prayer for Today
This day, O God, I choose to bless your name (Psalm 34:1–4). I bless you because you are great, and your greatness does not depend upon my circumstances. The problems of this world are mere child’s play in comparison to your ability to overcome. So, I choose to focus on the Problem Solver rather than any problem. I will boast in you, O God, because nothing is impossible for you (Matthew 19:26). Only you can make the impossible possible.
I proclaim your name, O Lord. I ascribe greatness to you, my God, for you are the Rock. Your work is perfect and all your ways are just (Deuteronomy 32:3–4). For this reason, I place my trust in you with confidence. You are greater than my problems; greater than my sins; greater than my sickness; greater than those who oppose me; greater than the powers of darkness; greater than my own shortcomings; greater than the failings of Your people; greater than the powers of human government; greater than my limited conceptions of how big You really are. My God you are greater!
My power to overcome any situation comes only from you, because greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). My heart’s desire is that Your great name will be made known throughout the earth, beginning in my life.
I lift my arms in surrender to the One who reigns above the heavens and the Earth. There is no power on Earth greater than yours. No love stronger. No wisdom deeper. You alone stand above the earth, but you have willingly chosen to also stand beside me.
The fact that you are great, yet you choose to reveal yourself to me through your Son, Jesus, through your Word, and through your Holy Spirit, drives me to my knees in gratitude. You didn’t have to reveal yourself to me, but you did. Now may your greatness be revealed in my life so that others may see your glory as well (Ezekiel 38:23).
The above article is excerpted from Battle Prayers: Faith to Move Your Mountains by Michael Klassen and Thomas Freiling. Copyright © 2022 Michael Klassen and Thomas Freiling. Published by Harper Renew. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson. www.thomasnelson.com. All rights reserved.
Battle Prayers: Faith to Move Your Mountains is published by HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.
Bio: Michael Klassen is a pastor, freelance writer, and associate editor for Christian Bookclub. He lives in Wellmon, Iowa
Thomas Freiling is a former publisher and acquisitions editor at Creation House. His residence is Vienna, Virginia.
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