Dear friends,

Today I just want to share something that could possibly shake the core of your faith.

I was preparing a different content altogether until I was led to a popular bible verse in my own reading:

For the longest time, Mark 11:23 troubled me more than it encouraged me.

Every time I read it, what was supposed to lift up my faith actually became the opposite due to one phrase: "and shall not doubt in his heart". It always felt like an impossible standard, a bar set so high that every prayer I uttered gets me asking- did I doubt?

I'd heard various interpretations on this. Most of it we are told to speak to our mountains to be removed and trust in God. Kenneth E Hagin leapt out of his hospital bed by confessing he received healing for every condition in his body. For he realized that the word faith here appeared once, but the word “say“ or “saith” appeared 4 times in the verse.

But somehow, I felt there was more to this verse or have not fully understood the context. Deep down, I knew Jesus wasn't trying to discourage us.

He was trying to set our faith on fire.

Just a night ago, everything changed.

I went to bed still pondering this passage. At 3 AM, I woke from a dream that shook me.

In it, I saw my family and I were heading to the car. We squeezed into the back seat—all four of us packed tight. But the front seat held not two people, but four, including my late grandmother. My dad took the steering wheel and shifted it to the middle so grandma could fit at the side. As we started moving, he shifted his body uneasily, and the whole car ride became shaky and unstable.

The meaning hit me immediately: my parents are still carrying the weight of caring for our family and it’s not gonna last long.

In that moment, in the quiet darkness of 3 AM, I desperately prayed. I asked God how I ease the burden they've been shouldering.

And right at the end of the prayer, I suddenly understood Mark 11:23.

It came like a download straight from heaven. 

Here's what the Holy Spirit showed me: this passage has three layers, and most of us only see one.

Let's break it down.

First, Jesus says: "Have faith in God."

But how?

Then He gives us the solution: “if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and has no doubt in his heart but believes that it will happen, it will be done for him”

Finally, He says "Therefore"—and that word changes everything.

Whenever the Bible says "therefore," it means the previous section is the foundation for what comes next. So Jesus is saying: Because of what I just showed you about the mountain example, you can develop faith in God, and you can receive whatever you ask for in prayer.

So if we study intently on this verse 23, our faith should not shrink but should explode!

So let’s begin with the first one which most people miss: Jesus isn't just using a metaphor.

He's saying that if anyone—anyone—actually spoke to a mountain and commanded it to move into the sea, and did not doubt in their heart, it would literally happen. And notice that it’s not in the form of a prayer but a command.. 

It’s this kind of absolute faith that moves the heavens and earth. The late Derek Prince said that it is not the size of your faith, but the quality of it. Just pure, undiluted faith operating in the natural realm.

Think about that. Jesus is describing how faith works at its most fundamental level.

But if faith can move mountains in the natural without even praying, why do we need to pray at all?

Because as Jesus Himself said to his sheep on the Sermon on the mount, we are people of "little faith."

Hebrews 11:3 tells us something profound: "By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible."

Everything around you—the sky, the mountains, the seas—was formed not by visible things, but by faith spoken out loud.

When we pray, we're asking for things that haven't happened yet. Miracles. Breakthroughs. Transformations. And we need faith for those things to materialize from the unseen into the seen.

If we ask in doubt, nothing moves.

Now here's the perspective that broke everything open for me:

Notice that there's no apparent reason to cast a mountain into the sea.

Yea think about that for a moment…

But that's exactly Jesus's point.

If a person could speak to something as massive as a mountain and command it to move for no reason at all, and it would obey... how much more will God answer your prayers when you come to Him with legitimate needs?

Whether is it healing. A life partner. Employment. Reconciliation. Restoration of your marriage. Financial Provision.

Whatever!

Still not convinced? Look at the verses right before this passage.

The disciples said, "Rabbi! Look, the fig tree you cursed has withered already!"

Now, some may say that Jesus cursed the fig tree as a prophetic act of judgment on Israel for not producing spiritual fruit—especially since right after cursing it, He went to the temple and overturned the tables. 

But here's what we can't ignore: the Bible specifically mentions that Jesus knew it was not the season for figs. He knew He would find no fruit.

So why curse a tree for not doing what it wasn't even supposed to be doing yet? It was unordinary of Jesus to do as he went about doing good and healing the sick. So why would the Creator destroy His own creation that was designed to produce fruit at the right time? 

Because He wanted to show us how faith works.

If there's no apparent reason to curse a fig tree, and no apparent reason to cast down a mountain, but the spoken word of faith still turns things into reality—how much more will God hear the requests of those who ask in times of genuine need?

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Even if there is a reason to have a mountain moved, which of our problems today is bigger than being tasked to move a mountain?

Jesus wants us to see how small our problems are compared to a mountain. In fact, the bigger the problem is, the easier it is for God to take care of it. That’s how the kingdom of God works!

After this revelation, I thought about Paul's thorn in the flesh. Here was a man with extraordinary faith, a bondservant of Christ himself. Yet God didn't remove his suffering.

But then I realized: God did answer Paul's prayer.

He told him, "My grace is sufficient for you." The Lord didn't leave Paul in the lurch to suffer alone. Sometimes our prayers aren't answered the way we expect or want. But we can be absolutely certain that God hears us and will show us His way—even when we're asking for things we don't fully understand.

But there's one more critical piece Jesus includes right after talking about mountain-moving faith:

"And when you stand to pray, if you hold anything against another, forgive it, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your trespasses as well."

This isn't a subject change. Jesus is still talking about receiving what we ask from God.

We need to ask with faith, yes. But before that, we need to forgive anyone who has sinned against us.

Unforgiveness can actually be the barrier to our unanswered prayers. 

So in summary, Jesus is saying to us:

He who formed mountains by speaking them into existence is more than able to handle whatever mountain you're facing today.

If this encouraged you, share it with someone who needs to hear it.