The family of God is always on the move
God has called us into a family and that family is not supposed to sit down. The family of God is always on the move. In our time and age, we have come to see that Christianity is like a rocking horse. With a rocking horse there is movement but no progress. The family of God is a running horse. We have not come to be static, but we have come to run. Rocking horses are toys for kids; if you sit on one as an adult, people will begin to wonder if you are normal. When you are an adult, you sit on a running horse. Those are for movement and for battle.
Read Mark 11.20-24.
We are called to a higher and deeper walk with God
If you are sitting on a rocking horse as a Christian, there is a clarion call from God for a deeper and higher walk with him. You cannot be a spiritual giant if you decide to rock on a rocking horse. I was thinking of a statement D. L. Moody once made. He said every great movement of God can be traced to a kneeling figure. So, John Knox said “O God give me Scotland or I die.” It is revival that will transform our hearts for our hearts and minds to be in sync.
Jesus had an agenda when he cursed the tree. The tree did not have fruit because it was not its season. Why would Jesus seek fruit from it and even curse it when he couldn’t find any? Was it fair? But every action of God has a purpose. It was for us to come to a place of greater faith and prayer today. When Peter drew their attention to the fact that the tree Jesus cursed had died, Jesus simply said, “Have faith in God.” He also added that they should speak to the mountain and it will move. We have come to a time in our Christian lives such that people cannot speak to mountains to move.
Why would Jesus say to speak to the mountain? It is because every word we speak originates from our minds and determines our actions. Jesus was preparing his disciples for situations that would enable them to see certain things in the spiritual realms to manifest in the natural realm.
Coordination of head and heart
Things happen in the realms of the spirit when our heads and hearts are in agreement. Your head will let you speak and your heart will let you know that what you are doing is right. When the two are in alignment, nothing shall be impossible. One of the reasons we don’t receive from God as we ought is that our hearts and minds are not in sync. Your mouth will speak one thing but your heart is not in agreement. God doesn’t only answer your prayers but he answers you. So even in this time of revival, I don’t know what your heart is praying for but mine is praying for fire to burn every work of the enemy.
God is released when heart and mind meet. There is a clarion call to sit on the running horse. Paul said I have fought the good fight and finished the race. It is a call to a deeper walk and to submit our hearts to him.
Let’s look at two people whose words and hearts did not agree.
King Amaziah
In 2 Chronicles 25.2 we see a king called Amaziah who did what was right in the sight of the Lord but not with a loyal heart. He did things that were outwardly correct but inwardly he was not coordinated. The second principle is that inner disunity shows itself in outward disloyalty. The end of that is failure and death. As we move into deeper relationship with God, I want to ask a question: Why do you do the things you do? Are your heart and mind in sync?
The mother of the sons of Zebedee
The second example I want to give concerns the mother of the sons of Zebedee. She ministered to Jesus. Then she asked Jesus to let one of his children to sit on his right and the other on her left in his kingdom. I began to wonder if while she was serving Jesus she had an ulterior motive. Our service to God must not be based on what we might get. How would you feel if people were only serving you to get something from you?
One of the signs that what you are doing is not from your heart is when you struggle on the inside to do those things you do for God. Jonah knew the right thing in his heart but his actions were wrong. We must come to a greater level of discernment. Today everybody is a prophet and when you go to church that is all they do. It is like if you don’t hear something about yourself you have not come to church. When your heart and mind are coordinated, you don’t need any prophecy form any prophet. The word of God is enough.
Main references
Mark 11.20-24, 2 Chronicles 25.2