Mark 11:23-24, For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. NKJV
Do you sometimes feel like there's a huge weight on your shoulders? Well, you are not alone; it's hard to live in this world and not get weighted down sometimes, but, thankfully, we don't have to remain under that burden. We have an Advocate with the Father, and His name is Jesus. He sits at the right hand of the Father and ever lives to make intercession for us. As our High Priest, Jesus knows what it is like for us to live in a fallen world, because He experienced burdens and anguish when He walked on the earth.
If you have a heavy burden on your heart today, I have some really good news for you. Your faith in Christ gives you the access to take that burden before the Lord and leave it on the altar. So let me ask you a question. What has you troubled or burdened down with heaviness? Got it in your thoughts? Now allow me to take you outside of your burdensome situation for a moment. Does Jesus have all authority in heaven and on the earth and beneath the earth? Yes He does. Does He dwell in your heart through the power of the Holy Spirit within you? Yes, greater is He that is within you than he that is in the world.
We've established that there is nothing too hard for Jesus. In fact, Jesus tells us that, with God, nothing shall be impossible. As a general rule Christians don't struggle with the issue of Jesus' authority; where the battle erupts is when our authority as a believer is challenged. This is why Jesus tells us in Mark that we must not allow doubt to enter our hearts when we take a stand of faith. So how do we overcome doubt? In Genesis 3, the serpent questioned the truth of God's Word and the character of God. His lie caused Eve to doubt God and His Word. So how does faith come? Faith comes through the ear gate just like doubt did in the beginning. When we're standing in faith for a burden to be removed from our hearts, we must cast any doubt down that might cause us to second guess the validity of God's promises to us.
Having stated these truths, please allow me to leave you with this final illustration. The other day I heard that Debbie and I were going to have to do something that disturbed me, and I began to feel the weight of having to face the situation. Later that week, I was reading something out of a book, and I noticed that when I read about the authority that we have in Christ, the truths in that book lifted that weight. At that moment, I knew that I was no longer carrying the weight of that encounter... even though we still have to do it.
My faith was now carrying that burden; my heart wasn't. This is why it is so vitally important that you get into the Word and allow the Word to get into you. The Bible gives us truths that pertain to any and all situations that we will face in the world. Once we receive God's truth pertaining to a particular situation or burden, our faith becomes energized and carries the weight so that we don't have to as we confront and go through difficult times in our lives. The writer of Hebrews tells us to lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us and let us run the race with endurance. With your faith carrying the weight, you're free now to expend your spiritual energy running the race.
Staying Focused on Christ,
Pastor Asa
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