And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you.”     (Luke 17:6)

Have you ever prayed for something … fervently … for a long time … and asked others to pray with you, those you knew to be “prayer warriors” … and God said, “No”?  Have you ever tried to go through a door you were trying to pray your way through … and God shut it?

I have.  Claiming verses like Luke 17:6, I told myself, “Nothing is impossible for God.”  So I said to my “mulberry tree,” “Be uprooted and be planted in the sea.”  But it did not move an inch.  The One Who so easily could have said “Yes, I will move this tree” … the all-powerful One Who made heaven and earth … He said, “No, I will not move this tree.”

He did not say, “No, not yet.”  He said, “No, not ever.”  And when He did, it felt like “NO!”  For two long years I asked almighty God to do something; and when His answer came, it did not feel like a door being gently closed in front of me.  No, it felt more like a slam-lock.  He slam-locked the door I was trying to go through; and it smashed my nose and crushed my toes.  His answer hurt; and what made matters worse was that I did not see it coming.  I was fully expecting a “Yes”! … but that’s not what I got.  And while others counseled me as to what my Plan B should be, I was still reeling, trying to figure out why my Plan A had not worked out.

At first, I was stunned … then angry … then embittered … then disillusioned toward the One Who – in love – sent His Son to die for me.  I was only two years old in the Lord, and I had no idea what was going on.  My heavenly Father (seemed to have) let me down.  He (seemed to have) reneged on His promise.  After all, my faith was at least the size of a mustard seed.  And if not mine, certainly all those prayer warriors’ faith was.  I felt abandoned and confused.  All my other friends … well, their lives seemed to be progressing quite nicely, the way they wanted them to.  But my life?  It was going nowhere.  On one occasion, when others around me were praying, I did not even bow my head.  What good was that going to do!

It took me two full years to recover from that “No.”  It took even longer for me to understand why a believer, having the faith the size of “a mustard seed,” can say to a “mulberry tree,” “Be uprooted and be planted in the sea” … but nothing happens.  I had been taught (correctly) that even a small amount of faith in a great God can move mountains.  And that is what I had … a small amount of faith in a great God.  Why then was my request withheld from me?  What was I missing?

What I was missing was the context in which this promise is found.  Luke 17:6 is found in the context of a series of commands … commands impossible to obey apart from the power of God.

Be on your guard!  If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”  (Luke 17:3-4)

These particular commands (to respond rightly to a brother’s sins) are – as all of God’s commands are – impossible to perform in our own strength.  It takes a miracle to obey the moral will of God; and He wants us to know that.  Most certainly, the disciples did.  That is why their immediate response to verses 3 and 4 was verse 5:  “Increase our faith!”  They knew that God’s expectation of them was beyond their reach.  The bar was too high.  To obey the Lord demanded a power they did not have.  The fact is

Only God has the power to obey God

… which brings us back to the promise of Luke 17:6:

“Even if you have only a small amount of faith, if you pray for what you need to obey God’s will, your prayers will be granted.  You can expect Him to say ‘Yes’ to your request … guaranteed.”

Most certainly, what I was asking for … fervently … for two years … with the help of others … was not inappropriate.  I was not praying for something immoral.  As directed by the Scriptures, I was “letting my requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6).

But my request had nothing to do with what my life needed to be conformed to the image of God’s Son to the glory of the Father.  Truly, God has the power to give His children anything they want.  But He also has the love and wisdom to give only what is best for them.  And what is best for them – and for Him – is, first and foremost, our obedience to His will.

That is why prayer for the wisdom and motivation and power to do His will is the request God promises to say “Yes” to.  It is the “mulberry tree” He promises to move.

This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.  (1^st John 5:14-15)

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It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.  And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles ….  (Luke 6:12-13)

If you are a member of a local church, what did you have to do to become one? Some churches do not even have a membership.  But most do; and those that do usually expect the person to know the answers to some questions … then (perhaps) to be baptized or participate in a certain ceremony … and then, to be officially recognized by the leadership as a member of the church.

I have found that having my name added to a church roll has never been all that difficult.  Of course, to be an active member requires a certain investment of time and effort and money.  But not once has church leadership ever placed upon me their expectation to

“know the power of (Christ’s) resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings …”

In fact, I don’t think I have ever been challenged by a youth leader or an elder or a deacon to

“… (be) conformed to (Jesus’) death in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”  (Philippians 3:10-11)

But Christ has.  He has issued that challenge.  When the Master says “Follow Me,“ He is not merely inviting us to sing in the choir or serve on the Finance Committee or place 10% of our income in an offering plate.  There is more to this summons than “Be active in your local church.”  He is calling us to crucify, to kill, to put to death – daily – our own self-centered ambitions that we might submit our lives to the will of the Father.  To be a Christ-follower means a lot more than being willing to die for Him.  It means dying to self, allowing ourselves to be pierced through … every day … with the nails of His will for our life.

Luke chapter 6 gives us a snapshot of this powerful, painful, joyful, costly relationship with Christ Jesus.  Here, the Master describes the character of His disciple as one

• who is aware of his own spiritual impoverishment. Knowing that he is “poor” in righteousness, he clings to the mercy of God (vs. 20, see Luke 18:13)

• who craves the righteousness of God, available only through faith in Christ (vs. 21, see Philippians 3:7-9)

• who grieves over his sins [seeking to turn his back on them] (vs. 21)

• who is persecuted by the worldly because of his holy relationship with Christ (vs. 22-23)

We are also told that the Master expects the service of His disciple to be sacrificial, treating others as he would want them to treat him (vs. 31)

• providing what is in the best interest of others, even his enemies (vss. 27-28, 30, 32, 35)

• forgiving those who have wronged him [leaving justice in the hands of God] (vs. 29-30, 37, see Romans 12:19)

• meeting the needs of others [who cannot meet their own needs and, therefore, will not be able to repay him] (vss. 30, 33-35, 38)

• showing kindness and mercy to those who are ungrateful and wicked (vss. 35-36)

Being a dedicated church member is one thing.  (And it is a good thing.)  But being a dead-serious disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ is something more.  There is a price to pay; and the price is high.  To follow Jesus, one must execute his own self-centered interests and submit his will to the will of his Master.  When Jesus calls someone to be His disciple, the weight of that summons is nothing less than this:

“Come and die with Me.”

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‘Ah Lord GOD!  Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm!  Nothing is too difficult for You.  (Jeremiah 32:17)

It is a little-known fact, but what drove the development of the atomic bomb was not America’s fear of Japan.  It was America’s fear of Germany.

Once Adolph Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, he conducted over the next 12 years a reign of unimaginable brutality.  There were some in Europe with enough foresight (and money) to escape Nazi Germany and make their way to the United States.  Many of these refugees were Jewish; and a few of them were some of the world’s most brilliant scientists.  When they arrived in America, they brought with them a fear that Hitler was on the brink of developing a weapon he must never have.

Germany was the center for the study of nuclear physics.  In a government laboratory located in Berlin, a German chemist had split an atom of uranium.  And when he did, nuclear energy was discovered.  The scientific community knew that this new form of energy had the potential to replace other forms such as oil and gas.  They also thought that it could possibly be used to create a new kind of bomb.

News coming out of Europe was that the German War Department had taken over one of the country’s finest laboratories.  Furthermore, they had outlawed the export of uranium from Czechoslovakia.  So these refugee scientists believed that the German bomb project had already begun; and they were horrified at the prospect of Hitler having in his possession nuclear weapons to execute his campaign of terror.

By 1945 Germany was losing the war.  And in April of that year, Hitler committed suicide.  After his death, the Allies learned that he had never understood the potential of the atomic bomb.  Consequently, he had not provided his atomic scientists the resources they needed to build this weapon.

And so it turned out that the weapon designed to be used against Hitler was not needed for the war in Europe.  But research on the atomic bomb continued.  And to end the war in the Pacific, President Harry Truman decided to use it against Japan.  The atomic bomb was dropped on two Japanese cities:  Hiroshima on August 6^th, 1945, and Nagasaki three days later.

Have you ever seen any pictures of the aftermath of those two bombs?  The power released from split atoms is awesome, to say the least.  But that power does not hold a candle to the might of the One Who holds all atoms together “in the palm of His hand.”

Nowhere is the power of almighty God more clearly seen than in His work of creation.  By His spoken word God created the heavens and the earth.  And when He did, we were introduced to another of His Hebrew Names:

In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth.  (Genesis 1:1)

The Name Elohim (translated “God”) portrays God as the all-powerful One.  But we should understand that He does not use His power randomly.  He is highly selective in its use.  God uses His power:

• to conform the lives of His people into the likeness of His Son,
• to fulfill every promise He has ever made, and
• to answer prayer.

Although I don’t think any believer would disagree with these three ways God uses His power, there is a condition that He places on the use of that power that is often ignored by many in the Church.

Elohim limits the use of His power to accomplishing His will … and His will alone.

For God to use His power (1) to change our lives and (2) to keep His promises does not bother or confuse us because that is what we want Him to do.  The way He chooses (3) to answer our prayers, however, can be a different matter.  What we want to receive from God is not necessarily what He wants to give us.  (Sometimes He says “No.”)  And when we want to get something is not necessarily when He wants us to have it.  (Sometimes He says “Not yet.”)  That’s because

God does not use His power to do what makes sense to us.  He uses His power to do what makes sense to Him.

He has the power to answer every one of our prayers with a “Yes.”  But He also has the wisdom and love to not do so.

We should thank Him for that.

How God uses His power is the subject of The God of Our Lives, chapter 8:  “Elohim, Our God is All-Powerful.”

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To the readers within the believing community:  My wife and I would greatly appreciate your prayers, that we would respond to adversity with grace and righteousness.

In his book, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ, the late Dr. Harold W. Hoehner presents evidence that Jesus Christ was crucified on Friday, April 3^rd, AD 33. ¹  On that day several individuals, whose lives would have otherwise faded into obscurity, became infamous participants in the most notorious crime in history.

To be sure, some of them knew they were committing a heinous act of injustice (in particular, the Jewish religious leaders who sentenced Jesus to death).  But it is doubtful that any of them fully understood what was happening.  To them, the Crucifixion was simply the “good riddance” of One Who had robbed them of the peoples’ admiration and threatened to disrupt the rituals of their religion.  But in reality, Golgotha was the pivot point of history:  a day when the justice of God intersected with the mercy of God … a day when capital punishment for our moral crimes was executed – mercifully – upon a sinless Substitute.

On that hill those who had arranged for Christ to die stood in front of His Cross to gawk at His agony and shame:  His shredded skin hanging loose from His back and sides, dripping with blood … His battered face bruised and bleeding from pounding fists … His lips cut open … His eyes swollen shut … His exposed body shivering in the cold of the morning hours … pushing His weight down on the spike driven through His feet to raise His chest for a gasp of breath … and using that breath to ask the Father to forgive the nail-drivers for what they had just done.

[We do well to picture this scene in our minds.  Was it not for you and me that Jesus Christ endured this wrath from God so that we – through faith in His Payment for our moral crimes – would not have to?]

Faithful Savior, eternity is not long enough to thank You for what You did for us.

And so, they stood before Him as He hung on the Cross.  They watched Him suffer; and then they watched Him die.  But this would not be the last time they would stand before Him, for His Cross and tomb marked the end of the Son of God’s humiliation and the renewal of His glory.  There is coming a day when those who stood before the Cross, pointing at the nail-impaled Sacrifice of God and yelling,

“You do not have the right to live,”

will bow before the King of glory and declare,

“You Alone have the right to rule.”

That will be a day very different than the morning of Friday, April 3^rd, AD 33.  Those who once stood before the humiliated Lamb of God will find themselves in the presence of the exalted Lion of Judah:  His exposed body now clothed with a radiant robe … a crown of thorns replaced by diadems of glory … and a cross that offered God’s mercy replaced by a throne now demanding God’s justice.  Before Him, they will not stand; they will bow.  And their tongues will not mock; they will confess that

Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  (Philippians 2:11)

Indeed, the day is coming when every one of us will acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus, something the true and living Church is already doing.  But when we do, what exactly are we saying?  Perhaps we put this title “Lord” in front of His Name so frequently – and so easily – that we have forgotten the weight of the word.  We would do well to become reacquainted with the commitment we are making when we acknowledge the Lordship of Christ.

To say that “Jesus is Lord” is to say that “Jesus has the right to rule.”

• He has the right to rule creation.
• He has the right to rule the nations.
• He has the right to rule His Church.
• And He has the right to rule our individual lives.

When we declare His Lordship, we are not giving Christ the right to rule over us.  He already has that right.  We are acknowledging a reality already established by the Father.

All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  (Matthew 28:18)

To say “Jesus is Lord” is easy … so easy, in fact, that even unbelievers can – and often do – declare it.  Yet, Jesus states that one’s confession of His Lordship is to go far beyond mere words.  Indeed, He strictly warns against paying mere lip service to His authority.

Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven.  (Matthew 7:21)

How then does one sincerely acknowledge the reality of Christ’s Lordship?

by striving to do the will of the Master

Why do you call Me, “Lord, Lord,” and do not do what I say?  (Luke 6:46)

Obedience is what separates the sheep from the goats.  Yes, it is true:  our humanity is frail.  But it is also true that God is not frail.  And dwelling within every reborn saint is the Spirit of almighty God.  God has the power to obey God; and He expects His children to trust Him … to provide the power we need … to obey His will.  And so, with our words and with our lives, let this Truth be our whole-hearted confession:

Jesus Christ is my Lord

No Hebrew name reveals the Lordship of Christ better than the Name Adonai.  This is the subject of chapter 7 in The God of Our Lives:  “Adonai, Our God is a Loving Master.”

Click here to view this course:  THE GOD OF OUR LIVES

Click here to view our website:  STEWARD OF TRUTH PUBLICATIONS

Click here to read the 1^ST chapter of The God of Our Lives:  YAHWEH, OUR GOD IS OUR CREATOR

To the readers within the believing community:  I would greatly appreciate your prayers, that the Master-Teacher would be the Author of these writings.

¹       Hoehner, Harold W., Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ, Grand Rapids, Michigan:  Zondervan Publishing House, 1977, page 114.