Praying Mountain-Moving Prayers
Adopting your unique destiny in God
When I wrote my book, “How Much More?” I dedicated it to “the girl with the big, crazy God-given dream. To me, the dreaming part of the process comes pretty naturally. Most of us can let our imaginations run a little wild and dream of what we could do if the world was perfect, if we had unlimited resources, or if we were in the right place at the right time.
The harder part comes next. When you have a God-given dream, how do you actually accomplish it?
I recently read Imagine Heaven where the author, John Burke, stated “the first person you’ll meet when you get to heaven is you.” After studying countless near death experiences where individuals went to heaven to return to earth and tell us about it, he shared insights on purpose and identity and how heaven impacts them.
When people who had a near death experience returned to earth they were more certain of their identity than ever before. In heaven, they had a glimpse of just how unique their specific assignment on earth is and some of them were even told they had to go back because they needed to finish something that has only just begun.
This is one of the reasons why I love people who are willing to bravely express and pursue big dreams on earth. The dreams God has given each of us are not an accident. They are on purpose and they are for a purpose. They are specific, unique and something that we are individually needed for at this exact moment in time and history.
Accomplishing those dreams can feel like an unmanageable task without confidence in the authority of God. In “How Much More?” I wrote about how to pray for those dreams. I think the first active step we can take towards our dreams is prayer.
When the disciples were praying without anything happening they went to Jesus and asked Him why. I find myself often echoing that same question. Sometimes I feel like I’ve missed the right combination of words, or I must be totally misunderstanding the heart of God. I wonder if my dream or prayer doesn’t matter or if it is even being heard.
In Matthew 17:20 Jesus answers and it says, “Because you’re not yet taking God seriously,” said Jesus. “The simple truth is that if you had a mere kernel of faith, a poppy seed, say, you would tell this mountain, ‘Move!’ and it would move. There is nothing you wouldn’t be able to tackle.”
This verse always challenges and encourages my prayer life. Jesus is essentially saying the problem isn’t the prayer. It isn’t about what you are praying for or what you are saying, it’s about your view of God.
Your view of God shapes your prayers. If you believe God has authority over all things, cares about every detail of every life, and calls you a son or daughter—your prayer will be shaped by that faith.
If you believe God is mostly in control but He might miss a few things, He has a purpose for most people but maybe not you, and you aren’t sure why He would call you personally His son or daughter— your prayer will be shaped by that faith.
It can be tempting to think faith is all on us. We might think we need to grit our teeth and clench our fists and find a forced faith to pray with it. Actually, faith itself is a gift from God.
When you find your prayers feel timid or shy, invite the Holy Spirit, our intercessor and friend to guide your prayers. Ask God for an increase and faith and pray specific prayers.
Every time I see a specific prayer answered my faith increases. I am reminded that God hears every word, that nothing is unmanageable for Him, and that we can approach Him with our childlike dreams because of who He is.
Taking God seriously in prayer, seeing Him as a God with authority, power, and even the desire to move on our behalf, allows us to pray mountain moving prayers.
These are the kinds of prayers that bring the purpose and identity we were made for in heaven down to earth.