Mountain Mover

Repentance is not a turning from one category of works to another (ie, from evil to righteous); rather, it is a turning from human works entirely to God.
Repentance is not so much a doing as a depending.
......Bryan Chapell, Holiness by Grace

Have you ever tried to move a mountain?

Last year, God unearthed something ugly in me, a seemingly immoveable mountain that cast a shadow of idolatry across my heart. (Idolatry: a love and/or holy fear directed to something or someone other than the Lord.) Knowing Jesus to be the Light Who pushes away every darkness, I repented quickly, then grasped Him and held on, determined not to let go until He blessed me (Genesis 32:26).

Every time I talked with God, I told Him about this menacing mountain, and rejected it as best I knew how. To me, it looked virtually insurmountable, even though I knew God to be bigger and stronger. But in the end, I could not pry its tangled roots from the labyrinth of my own heart. I did not know how to repent of this wrong affection! All I could do was keep pleading with God to put it to death, and wait until He worked.

And on a Thursday morning in mid-December, He did.

As if to leave no doubt that He was the one responsible for my heart’s repentance (this wasn’t my own self-improvement plan at work), He answered clearly and dramatically. He toppled that stubborn idol in a way that felt almost tangible. What a release to be rid of it, to experience light chase away shadow! By His persistent grace, I’ve been free since that day and His light in me is nurturing a stronger faith.

If you’ve tried repenting from deep passions and emotions in your heart, you get me: the deepest convictions, the firmest resolutions, simply cannot transform your heart. You choose to bite your tongue instead of speak in anger, or take your jealous thoughts captive to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5), or meditate on Scriptures to deal with your anxiety. Yet, while these choices are a necessary aspect of repentance, they do not accomplish repentance. As much as God tells us to do those very things, we also recognize that, in and of themselves, they lack power to alter our innermost desires. God alone changes our hearts.
 
The One who rescued us from the prison of sin and judgment when we were first saved, is the same One who continues to rescue our hearts as we walk with Him! By our faith in His sacrifice, Jesus has declared us holy — and He also declares He will continue to make us holy, by His life within us (Hebrew 10:14, Philippians 1:6, 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).

Just last week Ben came to me, confused about Jesus’ words on mustard seed-sized faith (Matthew 17:20-21). He was writing a paper on the passage, and could not fathom this faith that could move the mountains we watch from our window. "Mom, how can anyone do that?"

We don’t measure faith in tablespoons, I pointed out, like we would with the actual seeds in my spice drawer. It’s a spiritual reality, a confidence in Someone we cannot see (Hebrews 11:1). Jesus was talking about something far grander than global shifting of peaks and valleys: His Spirit’s power, which moves spiritual mountains that loom large and look unconquerable. God Himself is the mountain mover.

I think Ben got it, because his paper’s conclusion was this: "Things in life and in people’s spirits happen that are bigger than moving mountains. And God has enough power for that."

"Nothing will be impossible for you."
Jesus, in Matthew 17:21