If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move. Matthew 1720 there are mountains and molehills in everyone's life. The molehills are no big deal, and we can usually manage those without losing much sleep. The mountains pose a much bigger problem. They come in many forms. Some involve our finances. Others involve our health. Many have to do with personal relationships. At times, these mountains seem overwhelming and insurmountable. Not knowing what to do, we often become paralyzed and wind up doing nothing at all. So what should we do when we encounter obstacles and mountains in our path? The common answer is to pray to tell God about our mountains. The old hymn says, oh, what peace we often forfeit, oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. This idea is championed by devout christians, but Mark Batterson rightly says that in light of what Jesus said about faith and mountains in Matthew 1720, we need to stop talking to God about our mountains and start talking to our mountains about God. When the Israelites came to the bank of the Red Sea with Pharaoh's army on their heels, Moses cried out to the Lord about their dilemma. But God said, why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. In other words, don't be paralyzed by fear. Trust God and always act in faith. Easier said than done, I know. But honestly, as the apostle Paul put it, if God is for us, who can be against us? We are more than conquerors in Christ, victorious not only over temptation and sin, but also over obstacles and mountains in our path. It is faith, faith in God. Not faith in ourselves or faith in our own ability or in our own wisdom, but faith in God that moves mountains. So as I sign off today, I leave you with this does your faith remove mountains, or do the mountains remove your faith?

This has been your thought for the day with Steve Burkham, pastor of community christian church in Stockton, California. If you have questions or comments for Pastor Steve, please send them to dailythoughtspodcastmail.com. Have a great day, and we hope you'll join us tomorrow as pastor Steve opens God's word to bring us another thought for the day.