To enjoy spiritual power and spiritual victory, you need spiritual resources, not human prescription. Dr. Tony Evans says that requires a deliberate decision to have faith. Your choice to trust God or not to trust God is a choice.
It doesn't have to do with how you feel. It has to do with deciding whether He's worthy to be trusted. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Most of us understand that God has the power to deliver us. But when we're caught in a difficult situation or circumstance, we sometimes wonder if He'll actually do it. Today, Dr. Evans talks about how we can grow our faith to trust fully in God's deliverance.
Let's join him. How do I deal with the bondages in my life, the things for which I desperately desire to be delivered? That is the question. In Matthew chapter 17, we have a story, and oh, what a story it is. To appreciate where I'm going, the first thing I want you to understand is the concept involved of a mountain. Verse 20 says that if you have the faith of a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, be moved, and it will move. The concept of a mountain means a difficulty you can't climb over. He's not talking about a literal mountain here. He's talking about a mountain symbolically, that is, a situation in your life where you are stuck. The reason he uses the word mountain is because of the context in which this story is found. Jesus has just taken Peter, James, and John to the Mount of Transfiguration.
They just came down from a literal mountain, see? So, because they had just come down from a literal mountain, Jesus uses the figurative concept of mountain because that's what's on their minds right now, in fact. On this mountain, chapter 17, verse 1, a high mountain, it's called, he was, verse 2, transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, his garments became as white as light.
Jesus Christ was transfigured, that is, there was the zipping down of his humanity and the revealing of his deity. When they descended the mountain and came down, they discovered there were other mountains. You know what that's like, to come to a worship service on Sunday morning and have a mountaintop experience, only to leave church and hit the valley of despair because you run into mountains you can't handle. Whatever your mountain is, is fundamentally controlled by your mind. What Satan does is he builds mountains or fortresses or strongholds by blocking off the access to divine power. That was the situation in Matthew 17.
We have a young man here who has been brought to the Lord, verse 15. Mark tells us he couldn't speak. Mark tells us he couldn't hear.
Mark tells us that he would foam at the mouth, he would go into convulsions, he would have epileptic fits. And let me tell you, proof positive when you know you got a mountain. You've got a mountain, one, when you want to get rid of it but can't, verse 16. And I brought him to your disciples and they could not cure him. Even folk can't help you. It's a mountain when you go to the folk who's supposed to be able to help you and they can't help you.
The folk who had all God, all over them, couldn't help me either. That's a mountain. A mountain is when you've tried everything you've had, you've gone to every 12-step program in the city, tried the psychic line, you read the horoscope, you've called on the pastoral staff, you've tried the righteous and the unrighteous, and nothing works. That's a mountain. Part of the problem was that they were looking at the external activity of the boy to determine the diagnosis of the problem. From the text we discover that the things he was doing on the outside was because of a spiritual problem he had on the inside.
This boy was demon-possessed. And my point about your mountain is simply this. If we're going to move the visible mountain of your fruit, we're going to have to get down to the invisible mountain of your root.
Many of us have been trying to chop down mountains that are seen without addressing underground what is not seen. And if you're trying to fix a big mountain that you see and don't know that underneath the ground is the foundation of that mountain, then what you're doing is messing with the fruit when your problem's at the root. If you have an addiction, that is the symptom, not the problem. If you have a drug problem, you have a drug problem symptom, not a drug problem essence.
If you can't put down a cigarette, that's a symptom. What we've got to do is get beneath the ground to find out what Satan is stirring up on the inside. That's producing the inability, the partition, that keeps God from getting through to turning things around on the outside. And when I studied this, I said, that's it. People are spending their lives to fix the outside, not having diagnosed properly the inside, so they don't fix the inside, so they struggle forever with the outside.
That leads to a third point, the confidence regarding mountains. Look at what Jesus says in verse 17, O unbelieving and perverted generation. That's not what you'd call a compliment. How long will I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to me.
Or to put it in ordinary English, I'm tired of you folks. How do you think Christ feels about us when he sees our powerlessness due to lack of faith? Verse 20, Because of the littleness of your faith, for truly I say to you, if you have the faith of a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it shall move, and nothing shall be impossible to you. Now that's deep. He says, if you have enough faith, you'll talk to the difficulty in your life, mountain, and the mountain will move.
Did you just hear that? Now I didn't make that up. That's what verse 20 says. He says, if you didn't have little faith, then you would be able to say to this mountain, get out of here. Say to this addiction, go away. Say to this inability to control my tongue, shut up. Say to this mind I can't control, think straight, and the mountain, the difficulty, will submit.
Now that just seems a little bit too good to be true, that I can just tell it what to do, and it'll do it. He says the problem is related to little faith. That raises the question, what is little faith?
When you have little faith, the lie of Satan is more believable than the truth of God. You see, great faith sets no limit on what God can do. You know what great faith is? Great faith is when you are trusting God and the very opposite to what you are trusting Him occurs, and you still trust Him. That's great faith. Now, he then tells us something that has led to a lot of confusion, perhaps even in this room. If you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall be able to say to this mountain, get out of here.
Say to this drugs, leave me alone, and the mountain will move. So we got a contradiction. He condemns them because they have little faith and then tells them, but all they need is little faith in order to move a mountain.
You follow me? Turn to chapter 13, hold your finger here, verse 31. And he presented another parable to them saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. When a man took and sowed in his field, and this is the smaller than all the other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants, becomes a tree so that the birds of the air can come and nest in its branches. Now watch it. A mustard seed is very, very tiny, but that's not Jesus' point.
Here's Jesus' point. When you take a teensy, weensy, eensy bit mustard seed, plant that bad boy in the right soil, its external shell splits. Inside the mustard seed are little tiny miniature seeds that's even smaller than the mustard seed, but guess what happens underneath the ground? When the external breaks and opens up, the internal expresses itself. And what was held hostage on the inside by the hard shell on the outside is now free to express itself. And when this little itsy bitsy teeny weeny mustard seed sheds its external shell and begins to do its internal thing, that know nothing seed becomes a 15 foot plant, bigger than all the other plants in the garden, although it started as the smallest seed in the garden.
And not only does it get bigger than all the other plants in the garden, other birds can come and sit down and rest on it because it's so strong now. He does not mean that you have to have tiny faith. He says if you take the tiny faith you have and plant it right, stripping it of its external shell, what has been held hostage on the inside will begin to express itself on the outside and you're going to find out not only can you grow and not only are you a 15 foot Christian, but other folk can rest on your life too. That's how strong you are.
So guess what? That mountain in your life, that mountain in your life is because the shell on the outside is controlling the life on the inside. So what you got to do is split the shell so that the life on the inside can express itself.
But no mustard seed ever grew without being buried first. He means if you have the faith of a mustard seed that is willing to die, be buried, be stripped of its external so that it can express its internal, then you can say, mountain, get out of here. And having that mountain moving faith requires an important change in our thinking.
Dr. Evans will explain what that change is when he returns in just a moment. First though, if you're ready to dig deeper into the biblical principles Dr. Evans has been presenting today, be sure to request a copy of his two volume series, Fasting the Key to Spiritual Victory. It explains how saying no to your physical appetite can sharpen your spiritual one, creating a hunger for God that the Lord is only too happy to satisfy. Right now, we're offering all 14 full length messages in this series on CD or digital download as our gift, when you support the ministry of the alternative. Along with the complete audio package, we'll also send you a special bonus, the Cultivating a Year of Kindness Perpetual Flip Calendar, your 365 day companion to becoming contagiously kind. These reflections will help you develop a deep passion for kindness in your daily life, as you're motivated and encouraged with insights from Dr. Evans, along with short prayers and inspiring Bible passages. Visit us today at tonyevans.org or call us at 1-800-800-3222 to take advantage of this special resource package. Again, that's tonyevans.org or by phone at 1-800-800-3222. Well, Dr. Evans, we'll come back with more of today's lesson right after this. Have you ever done a connect the dots puzzle?
You draw lines from one numbered dot to another, and before you know it, a picture appears you didn't even know was there. Well, Tony wants you to have that same experience with the Bible. Through the Tony Evans Training Center, he'll help you connect the dots of Scripture and discover the big picture of God's kingdom agenda, all at your own pace, anywhere, anytime, on your computer or mobile device. There are courses on a wide range of topics and texts. Each one includes exclusive, in-depth content from Tony, probing discussion questions, access to full-length messages, and an online discussion forum where you can ask specific questions and get detailed answers.
Visit tonyevans.org today and connect with the Tony Evans Training Center where you can explore the kingdom anytime, anywhere. Turn with me to Mark 9 where Mark tells the same story, but he gives us a little bit more information. Verse 19, Jesus says, O unbelieving generation, how long have I put up with your lack of faith? Basically, verse 20, they bring the boy to him. Immediately, the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling about and foaming at the mouth.
Okay? So he's in a chaotic situation here. And he asks the father, how long has this been happening? He said, long time, this mountain been here a long time from a childhood.
And it has often thrown him both in the fire, in the water, to destroy him. Now watch this now. Watch it now. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.
Now that doesn't sound too bad, does it? Come on, Jesus. If you can help me, help me. What is Jesus' response? Jesus said, if you can. And I know that's a sentiment because he says, all things are possible to him who believes.
I mean, if you can. Look at what the man does in verse 24. Immediately, he didn't think about it. Because if he thought about it, he wouldn't know what to do. So he stopped thinking and started trusting.
Immediately, the boy's father cried out and began saying, I do believe, help my unbelief. That's a different statement. Your choice to trust God or not to trust God is a choice. It doesn't have to do with how you feel.
This has to do with deciding whether he's worthy to be trusted. He says in verse 22, he says, but if you can do anything, take pity on us. I use the word if. I'm going to change my word.
You can. Now notice something. When he changed the order, God gave him the miracle. When he changed the order, God gave him the cure. Because he changed his perspective, God moved.
To enjoy spiritual power and spiritual victory, you need spiritual resources, not human prescription. This mountain, this thing that's this difficult, this problem that's been in your life this long, this problem or sin that Satan has had control of this long doesn't come out by going to church on Sunday, doesn't come out just because the pastor or the pastoral staff or the counseling center all have their place, but it doesn't come out just because you talk to them because the disciples can't handle this one. It's too deep. It's been there too long. Satan has too much of a stronghold.
He's created too much of a fortress. This kind, you got to dig out. And it comes by fasting and prayer. Fasting and prayer says I have no human option available. Fasting has to do with going through the pain of the body because you're trying to crack the shell so that there can be the freedom of the spirit. It is going through the agony. Of course your stomach is hurting when you're fasting.
Of course your stomach is upset. But fasting says that I am going to wrestle through and deny you. Now, in order to deny your body dinner or whatever fast you happen to be on, meals all day, whatever it happened to be, what you had to do was weaken the flesh. See, the flesh gets weaker because the flesh is hungry.
So it is now weaker. But when the flesh becomes weak, it gives the opportunity when feeding the soul for the spirit to become stronger. You see, we don't express our spirits because we're so into satisfying our flesh that the free spirit is not free to become a mustard plant. But once you begin denying and fasting the craving of the body, what you do is get in the position where you are telling the flesh what it can do and what it cannot do. God is saying when you can say no to food, you are saying no to the flesh. Any other addiction you have is an addiction of the flesh. So once you get used to telling the flesh, it can't have everything it wants to have. Whenever it wants to have it, you just now have to shift that from food to drugs, food to sex, food to lying, food to cussing, food to anything else because you're moving in the strength of your decision.
You are wrestling for the control of your life because you can control the physical. You now have been freed up to control the spiritual. That's why fasting is important. That's why you fast till you get a breakthrough. Some of you are fasting for difficulties in your life and you want to know, pastor, how long do I fast?
Till you get a breakthrough. There's a story in the Bible of a man looking for a mate and he thinks he's founder. You say, I think that's the one. And he goes to a house, sits down at the table to talk to the girl's father. And the father brings out some food and the man says, I cannot eat till this matter is resolved. He put away food till he found the right wife.
We're going to have a lot of skinny folk running around here. All right. Now, you want to know where that passage is, don't you? I'm not going to tell.
I'm not going to tell. You got to keep coming back while I preach, okay? You fast till you get a breakthrough. James 4 says, when we humble ourselves before God, which fasting is. We saw that fasting is humbling yourself. When you humble yourself before God, he gives greater grace. He gives greater strength, greater power. Dr. Tony Evans, exploring the connection between giving up what we want and getting what we need.
And he'll come back with a closing word in just a moment. First though, today's lesson on fasting for deliverance is part of a two-volume series called Fasting the Key to Spiritual Victory. And as I mentioned earlier, you can own this collection on CD or digital download when you make a contribution to help us keep Tony's teaching on this station. And as an added bonus, we're also including our inspiring Cultivating a Year of Kindness Perpetual Flip Calendar.
Good to be used for any year. Be sure to take advantage of this unique resource package while you still can. Just visit tonyevans.org to get the details and to make your contribution and request. That's tonyevans.org. Or call our 24-hour resource request line at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our team members help you. Again, the number 1-800-800-3222. They say everyone has baggage in life, but the load you're carrying might be heavier than it needs to be. Tomorrow, Dr. Evans will show how fasting can help get those burdens off your back.
Right now, though, he's back with these closing words. I like to watch the Olympics and I like to watch the high jumpers. Seven-foot bar, they get way back, stare down, take off, turn sideways, lift themselves up, strong muscular legs that take them seven feet high. And that's fine if you've got a seven-foot mountain. But what happens when you have an 18-foot mountain?
You need a different approach. See, if you're just a high jumper and you've got an 18-foot mountain and you get back as far as you can get, go to church every Sunday, have devotions every day, I'm going to get way back here, get all the counseling I can get, and you just take off and you just make your way and you leap, we can all watch you make a fool of yourself because you won't get across that bar. Ah, but in the Olympics, when those high jumpers see an 18-foot mountain, they get a pole. They're called pole vaulters. They get that pole and run down with that pole, stick that pole in a hole in the ground, and count on the pole to lift them higher so they can cross the bar that has been 18 feet high. If you've got a mountain that ordinary Christianity won't get you over, why are you still trying to jump in your own flesh? What you need is a pole. You need something you can dig in and lean on and push on that will propel you over the mountain of your life so that you clear it and stop knocking it over. What you need is fasting and prayer. That is the pole vault to boost you over the mountain bars of your life. That is what God is calling you to. That is what He is asking you to do. That is the call of fasting and prayer.
