When you read Hebrews 11 in the Bible, you're reading what is commonly referred to as the "Faith Hall of Fame." Those who are familiar with the Word of God know that Hebrews 11 is almost an abbreviated synopsis of the Old Testament. In this chapter, we read of Abel, Enoch, Noah and Abraham. We read of Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses. We understand that we are being told of Joshua when we read of the falling of the walls of Jericho and we read about the harlot Rahab. We read about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthae, David and Samuel. The writer goes on to tell us that there are many others who acted with faith toward God and through God even when they did not see the promise of God, Jesus, in their lifetimes.

We ask ourselves, why aren't we seeing the miracles they saw? Why aren't we getting the testimonies of Faith that they got? Jesus told us we would see better things than they saw, experience more powerful manifestations of God than even what He did. Why aren't we seeing that?

Jesus, during the time He walked on this earth, told his disciples and those who received healing, "Only Believe." And "Your Faith has made you whole." What I am conveying to you here is this: All of these people had something that you and I don't have but which we should have. These people had a belief system in God. That is, they believed first and foremost in God and in His absolute power on this earth. Today, we believe in anything but God. We believe in Wall Street. We believe in the Dodgers or the Bulls or the Cowboys. We believe in Hollywood. We believe in AT&T or Chrysler. We believe in a religion. We believe in "A God," or a "divine force."

You don't often see everyday people happily declaring on the street, "I believe in The God, and in His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit!" You don't hear this as a normal part of conversation in church, down at the local truck stop, in the offices of huge corporations or on the internet. You don't come across people who calmly and rationally announce, "I Believe."

We've become an educated bunch, believing in the environment, in insurance, in the latest brand of toothpaste, in the tabloids, in the Democrats or the Republicans. We believe in the government educating our children, in the welfare system, in credit cards, in social security, and in evolution.

So why aren't we seeing miracles? Why can't we just believe in healing? Why can't we believe in prosperity and in the promises of God? It is because we have replaced our belief system in God with a belief system in anything BUT God!

Now would be a good time to have a fit! I could kick and holler and scream, "I wanna see miracles! I wanna see healing! I wanna see burdens removed and yokes destroyed!" (another sermon)

Let's reason this problem out by applying it to an example. Say, for instance, I am very, very ill. I understand that illness. I talk about that illness. People ask how I'm doing because of that illness. Other people take care of me. That illness becomes my occupation, I wake up in the morning and think about it. I get annoyed by it during the day. I get depressed over it in the evening and it wakes me up during the night to remind me it's still there. That illness takes on character and definition. I learn to plan my days around it and take it for drives when I go show it to the doctor. I take special medicine for it and eat or not eat certain foods because of it. It's my illness and I understand it. I am intimate with every facet of its character. It becomes more important than my body, than my family, than my job or my education or my future. In short, I believe in that illness because I'm very well acquainted with it and it has become very interesting to think about and to talk about.

Now here comes along some "hot-shot" do-gooder or some minister on TV who says, "BE HEALED - IN THE NAME OF JESUS!" First of all, who is this Jesus fellow who is supposed to get rid of my illness? Second of all, I really don't remember the sensation of "being healed" or "wholeness," so how am I supposed to all of a sudden replace the familiar with the unfamiliar?

This is often a stumbling block for those of us who believe. Especially those of us who see people suffering so terribly and we know they can be healed and become walking miracles, living testaments of the presence and goodness of God.

Here's how Jesus teaches us about this problem. In Mark 11:22-23, He tells us "Have Faith in God. For verily, I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, 'BE THOU REMOVED AND BE THOU CAST INTO THE SEA!' and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith."

As a very young girl, when I first read this Scripture, I thought, "Wouldn't that cause all kinds of problems, if we went around moving mountains and then even more problems when we started filling up the seas with mountains?" I didn't have anyone I could ask about this. I just figured God would show me what in the world he was talking about when I got older and, "Praise the Lord" He has shown me what this means.

People have all kinds of mountains in their lives that need to be removed. We generally refer to whatever mountain we have as THE PROBLEM. The problem might be illness, it might be debt, it might be depression or a broken home or unforgiveness or anger. Whatever IT might be, it always needs to be removed. And we say we want the problem removed - but what in the world do we put there in its place to think about when it's gone!

In the example that I gave earlier, about the very ill person, we can move the problem out immediately, by miracle, which of course is always the best way - - - or is it? What will this person have once the illness is gone? Many of you might say, "A LIFE!" That's just exactly what Jesus says in John 10:10 "I am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly." But before we can BELIEVE IN LIFE, we need to STOP BELIEVING IN THE ILLNESS, or in the poverty, or in whatever wrong circumstances we have. We take the Word of God by actually reading the Bible. Jesus tells us that His Words are Spirit and They are Life. We "eat" the Bread of Life by reading His Word, by listening to his Word, by speaking His Word and by acting on His Word. We ask Jesus to come into our life and take over as we literally make Him Lord of our life.

Every day, for as long as is necessary every day, we replace the belief system we knew with a new system of belief, one that actually works. We read the Bible, at first not comprehending much, just like a little baby learning to say new sounds and learning to hear and understand new words. Then somehow, it becomes clearer - when that which we didn't understand at all last year suddenly takes life in our spirit and frees us from the shadow of that mountain. We realize one day that the mountain of illness or poverty no longer seems as big as it once did. And then, even if it takes months or years, that mountain is simply gone.

It has been replaced by the Word of God. Now we realize we are no longer subject to any illness, to the poverty of the world, to unforgiveness and fear and pain. We've been loosed from the bondage of all that and the yoke that we've been burdened with for years is destroyed. Then we know why Jesus came. He came here for each individual man or woman or child who chooses to have their particular mountain removed, and who chooses to establish a Belief in God in its place.

By the Leading of the Holy Spirit and to the Glory of God!

Merrellee Moore 7/28/98

I pray that you who read these words will be blessed by them and let them take root and grow in your heart. I Believe that your burdens WILL be REMOVED and your yokes of bondage WILL be DESTROYED according to the will of God. I pray that His Kingdom will be established in your life in place of the mountains which have been removed. I pray this with FAITH, that is BELIEF in the Name and in the Blood and in the Love of Jesus Christ.
 

Additional biographical information on Merrellee:  My ICQ # 13629499. I am Christian. Married 30 years to Dan. One daughter, Danielle who is married to Todd. One Granddaughter, DeLanie. Dan and I live in Arizona but we're originally from New Mexico. All our family is in New Mexico. I enjoy Bible Study with my husband and working on my web site which includes several essays based on my Bible Studies. I also love knitting and crochet and reading.