October 15th, 2026
There is a big difference between believing that God can do something and actually using your faith when you are standing in front of something that needs to move. We can know all the right Scriptures, believe that God is powerful, and even believe that miracles still happen, but Jesus didn’t teach us simply to think about our mountains. He taught us to speak to them.
In Matthew 17:14-20, a man brought his son to Jesus after the disciples had been unable to help him. It says, “And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to Him and, kneeling before Him, said, ‘Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not heal him.’ And Jesus answered, ‘O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to Me.’ And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ He said to them, ‘Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.’”
Notice what Jesus said to do with faith. He didn’t say that if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you can think about the mountain moving. He said you can say to the mountain, “Move from here to there.”
Faith has to be used.
Sometimes we think we need some enormous amount of faith before anything can happen. Jesus said faith like a grain of mustard seed could move a mountain. The issue isn’t necessarily the size of your faith. The question is whether you are willing to use the faith you have.
Jesus teaches this again in Mark 11. Beginning in verse 12, it says, “On the following day, when they came from Bethany, He was hungry. And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if He could find anything on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And He said to it, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again.’ And His disciples heard it.”
Jesus spoke to the tree.
Nothing in the passage tells us that the disciples immediately saw anything happen. Jesus spoke and they continued on their way. But when they passed by the tree again the following morning, something had changed.
Mark 11:20-25 says, “As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree that You cursed has withered.’ And Jesus answered them, ‘Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.’”
Jesus said, “Have faith in God.” Then He immediately started talking about what we say.
“Whoever says to this mountain…”
Then He connects what we say with what we believe in our hearts. The two aren’t separate. Faith is established in the heart, but faith also has a voice.
This is why the words coming out of our mouths matter so much. Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.”
You have to understand how powerful your words are.
There’s a story told about Smith Wigglesworth staying with a minister who had no feet. He had only stumps where his feet should have been. Wigglesworth told the man that the next morning he was to go down to the shoe shop and buy himself a pair of shoes.
Now think about that for a moment. Why would a man without feet need shoes?
He could have argued. He could have looked down at his legs and said, “I don’t have anything to put shoes on.” He could have waited until he saw feet before he went looking for shoes. But he didn’t.
The next morning, he went to the shoe shop on his crutches and asked for a pair of shoes. The clerk looked at him and pointed out the obvious. He didn’t have any feet. But the man told him to bring him the shoes anyway.
The clerk returned with them, and when the man began putting the first shoe over his stump, flesh formed. A foot was created and the remainder of his leg grew out. He took the other shoe, and the same thing happened to the other leg.
He went to get new shoes and came home with new feet.
There will always be someone willing to tell you why faith won’t work. There will always be a circumstance willing to point out what you don’t have. There will always be something visible trying to convince you that what God has said is impossible.
At some point, you have to decide which one you’re going to believe.
That doesn’t mean faith is foolishness. It doesn’t mean we manufacture something God never said and then demand that He perform it. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Our confidence isn’t in our ability to speak loudly enough, repeat something enough times, or work ourselves into an emotional state. Our confidence is in what God has said.
But once we know what God has said, we have to be willing to stand on it.
There was another story about a minister who was asked to visit a young married man in the hospital. The young man was only twenty-one years old, and according to the situation, he should have already been dead. His breathing had become so slow that you had to watch him for a while just to see him take a breath.
The minister prayed for him and then spoke to the young man’s wife. He told her what he wanted her to do. She was to declare over her husband, “My husband will live and not die in the name of Jesus.” If someone came in and told her that this was his last day, she was to keep saying, “My husband will live and not die.”
She asked him, “How long do I do it?”
His answer was simple.
Until he lives.
Six months later, that minister returned to the church. The pastor introduced him to someone. It was the young man from the hospital, and he was now serving as the church’s youth pastor.
The minister asked his wife how long she had continued making that declaration. She told him she had done it for two weeks. Thousands of times she had said, “My husband will live and not die in the name of Jesus.”
Was there something magical about saying it thousands of times? No. That misses the entire point. This wasn’t a formula where the thousandth confession finally unlocked something. The issue was that she refused to allow what she saw to change what she believed.
Psalm 118:17 says,
“I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord.”
How long are you willing to stand on what God has said?
Sometimes we approach faith like we’re willing to try it for a little while. We pray a few times. We confess the Word for a few days. We don’t immediately see anything change, so we decide it must not be working.
But what if the fig tree had something to teach us?
Jesus spoke to it, and there was no visible evidence recorded at that moment. By the next morning, the disciples saw that it had withered from the roots. There are times when you have spoken the Word and you don’t see anything happening yet. That doesn’t mean you abandon what God has said and go back to speaking what you see.
Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
We hold fast because there will be pressure to let go. There will be moments when circumstances tell you that nothing is changing. There will be moments when your feelings tell you to quit. There may even be people around you telling you why it can’t happen. But faith isn’t based on whether you can see something changing. Faith is based on the faithfulness of the One who promised.
So what mountain are you standing in front of?
Maybe you’ve spent a lot of time describing it. You know how big it is. You know how long it has been there. You know everything that has happened because of it. You’ve talked about it, worried about it, analyzed it, and prayed about it. But have you spoken the Word of God to it?
Jesus said, “Whoever says to this mountain…”
Faith isn’t passive. Faith doesn’t simply sit back and agree that God could do something someday. Faith takes God at His Word and responds to what He has said.
This week, find out what the Word of God says about the mountain in front of you. Don’t build your confession around what you wish would happen. Build it on the Word. Get that Word into your heart until it becomes more real to you than what you see, and then refuse to allow your circumstances to change your confession.
Speak to the mountain. And if you don’t see it move immediately, don’t give up simply because your eyes haven’t caught up with your faith yet. Have faith in God. Believe what He has said. Hold fast to your confession. And keep standing on the Word because the One who promised is faithful.
In Matthew 17:14-20, a man brought his son to Jesus after the disciples had been unable to help him. It says, “And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to Him and, kneeling before Him, said, ‘Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not heal him.’ And Jesus answered, ‘O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to Me.’ And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ He said to them, ‘Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.’”
Notice what Jesus said to do with faith. He didn’t say that if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you can think about the mountain moving. He said you can say to the mountain, “Move from here to there.”
Faith has to be used.
Sometimes we think we need some enormous amount of faith before anything can happen. Jesus said faith like a grain of mustard seed could move a mountain. The issue isn’t necessarily the size of your faith. The question is whether you are willing to use the faith you have.
Jesus teaches this again in Mark 11. Beginning in verse 12, it says, “On the following day, when they came from Bethany, He was hungry. And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if He could find anything on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And He said to it, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again.’ And His disciples heard it.”
Jesus spoke to the tree.
Nothing in the passage tells us that the disciples immediately saw anything happen. Jesus spoke and they continued on their way. But when they passed by the tree again the following morning, something had changed.
Mark 11:20-25 says, “As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree that You cursed has withered.’ And Jesus answered them, ‘Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.’”
Jesus said, “Have faith in God.” Then He immediately started talking about what we say.
“Whoever says to this mountain…”
Then He connects what we say with what we believe in our hearts. The two aren’t separate. Faith is established in the heart, but faith also has a voice.
This is why the words coming out of our mouths matter so much. Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.”
You have to understand how powerful your words are.
There’s a story told about Smith Wigglesworth staying with a minister who had no feet. He had only stumps where his feet should have been. Wigglesworth told the man that the next morning he was to go down to the shoe shop and buy himself a pair of shoes.
Now think about that for a moment. Why would a man without feet need shoes?
He could have argued. He could have looked down at his legs and said, “I don’t have anything to put shoes on.” He could have waited until he saw feet before he went looking for shoes. But he didn’t.
The next morning, he went to the shoe shop on his crutches and asked for a pair of shoes. The clerk looked at him and pointed out the obvious. He didn’t have any feet. But the man told him to bring him the shoes anyway.
The clerk returned with them, and when the man began putting the first shoe over his stump, flesh formed. A foot was created and the remainder of his leg grew out. He took the other shoe, and the same thing happened to the other leg.
He went to get new shoes and came home with new feet.
There will always be someone willing to tell you why faith won’t work. There will always be a circumstance willing to point out what you don’t have. There will always be something visible trying to convince you that what God has said is impossible.
At some point, you have to decide which one you’re going to believe.
That doesn’t mean faith is foolishness. It doesn’t mean we manufacture something God never said and then demand that He perform it. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Our confidence isn’t in our ability to speak loudly enough, repeat something enough times, or work ourselves into an emotional state. Our confidence is in what God has said.
But once we know what God has said, we have to be willing to stand on it.
There was another story about a minister who was asked to visit a young married man in the hospital. The young man was only twenty-one years old, and according to the situation, he should have already been dead. His breathing had become so slow that you had to watch him for a while just to see him take a breath.
The minister prayed for him and then spoke to the young man’s wife. He told her what he wanted her to do. She was to declare over her husband, “My husband will live and not die in the name of Jesus.” If someone came in and told her that this was his last day, she was to keep saying, “My husband will live and not die.”
She asked him, “How long do I do it?”
His answer was simple.
Until he lives.
Six months later, that minister returned to the church. The pastor introduced him to someone. It was the young man from the hospital, and he was now serving as the church’s youth pastor.
The minister asked his wife how long she had continued making that declaration. She told him she had done it for two weeks. Thousands of times she had said, “My husband will live and not die in the name of Jesus.”
Was there something magical about saying it thousands of times? No. That misses the entire point. This wasn’t a formula where the thousandth confession finally unlocked something. The issue was that she refused to allow what she saw to change what she believed.
Psalm 118:17 says,
“I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord.”
How long are you willing to stand on what God has said?
Sometimes we approach faith like we’re willing to try it for a little while. We pray a few times. We confess the Word for a few days. We don’t immediately see anything change, so we decide it must not be working.
But what if the fig tree had something to teach us?
Jesus spoke to it, and there was no visible evidence recorded at that moment. By the next morning, the disciples saw that it had withered from the roots. There are times when you have spoken the Word and you don’t see anything happening yet. That doesn’t mean you abandon what God has said and go back to speaking what you see.
Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
We hold fast because there will be pressure to let go. There will be moments when circumstances tell you that nothing is changing. There will be moments when your feelings tell you to quit. There may even be people around you telling you why it can’t happen. But faith isn’t based on whether you can see something changing. Faith is based on the faithfulness of the One who promised.
So what mountain are you standing in front of?
Maybe you’ve spent a lot of time describing it. You know how big it is. You know how long it has been there. You know everything that has happened because of it. You’ve talked about it, worried about it, analyzed it, and prayed about it. But have you spoken the Word of God to it?
Jesus said, “Whoever says to this mountain…”
Faith isn’t passive. Faith doesn’t simply sit back and agree that God could do something someday. Faith takes God at His Word and responds to what He has said.
This week, find out what the Word of God says about the mountain in front of you. Don’t build your confession around what you wish would happen. Build it on the Word. Get that Word into your heart until it becomes more real to you than what you see, and then refuse to allow your circumstances to change your confession.
Speak to the mountain. And if you don’t see it move immediately, don’t give up simply because your eyes haven’t caught up with your faith yet. Have faith in God. Believe what He has said. Hold fast to your confession. And keep standing on the Word because the One who promised is faithful.
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