Mountain Movers
By Ken Chant
()
About this ebook
"Then the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions" (Obadiah, verse 17).
What a strange expression! How can you "possess" what you already possess?
he prophet is thinking about Israel. That nation had received some stunning promises from God (for example, Deuteronomy 28:9-13). What astonishing prosperity God offered Israel! In the mind of God, everything he had promised already belonged to the people, but they had never seized their inheritance. Sometimes through unbelief, sometimes through cowardice, sometimes through ignorance, or for another reason, they had left the splendid promise of God unclaimed. But one day, said Obadiah, that will all change, and Israel will at last fully possess its own possessions.
The church is like Israel. God has given us immense benefits. Christians are the owners of those blessings, yet they don’t possess them. We live as though our property were not ours, as though we still have to buy God’s gracious gifts by our own works, as though they have to be earned instead of received joyfully by faith.
The opening chapter of this book does two things: it presents three of the benefits that we Christians are called upon to "possess" by faith; and it lays a foundation for the chapters that follow, for the basic theme of this book is how you, by faith, can "possess your own possessions!"
Ken Chant
Dr. Ken Chant (M.R.E. Th.D), is the President of Vision Christian College (Australia) and is on the International Board of Directors for Vision International University (USA).Dr Ken Chant is an Australian pentecostal pastor who was ordained in Melbourne in 1954. He has been actively involved in Christian ministry for over 50 years (ten of which he and his family spent in the USA). A brief summary of his ministry would include the following -He has pioneered eight churches and Pastored several others, including serving for five years as the associate pastor of what was then Australia's largest Pentecostal church (the Adelaide Crusade Centre).For several years he was the editor of two of Australia's most successful charismatic/Pentecostal journals.He has been the principal of four Bible colleges (in Australia and the USA), has taught at Christ for the Nations (Dallas), Oral Roberts University (Tulsa), Youth With a Mission (Hawaii), and spoken at crusades, conferences, and seminars in Australia, the UK, the USA, Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore, and New Zealand.Dr. Chant is the author of many of Vision's textbooks on Christian life, Doctrine and Theology.
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Mountain Movers - Ken Chant
Mountain Movers
A series of Studies
by
Ken Chant
Published at Smashwords by
Vision Colleges
Copyright © 2015 Vision Christian Colleges.
All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
ISBN 978 1 310904 03 5
Vision Colleges
PO Box 84, Macquarie Fields,
NSW, 2564, Australia
Ph: 02 9603 2077
Fx: 02 9603 3277
Email: contact@visioncolleges.net
Web site: www.visioncolleges.net
Contents
Chapter 1: Possess Your Possessions!
Chapter 2: How To Please God!
Chapter 3: God’s Mighty Promises
Chapter 4: How To Be Made Whole!
Chapter 5: When The Promise Fails
Chapter 6: Powerful Prayer
Addendum: Why People Don’t Pray
Chapter 7: Part One - Things That Hinder Prayer
Chapter 8: Part Two - Beyond Pagan Prayer
Chapter 9: Praise Your Way To Victory!
Chapter 10: No Sweat!
Chapter 11: Much, Much More!
Chapter 12: The Keys Of The Kingdom!
Chapter 13: Reigning As Kings!
Chapter 14: Mountain Movers
Abbreviations
Endnotes
More Books by Vision Colleges
College Information
A NOTE ON GENDER
It is unfortunate that the English language does not contain an adequate generic pronoun (especially in the singular number) that includes without bias both male and female. So he, him, his, man, mankind,
with their plurals, must do the work for both sexes. Accordingly, wherever it is appropriate to do so in the following pages, please include the feminine gender in the masculine, and vice versa.
FOOTNOTES
A work once fully referenced will thereafter be noted either by ibid
or op. cit.
Chapter 1
POSSESS YOUR POSSESSIONS!
(Return to Top)
Then the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions
(Obadiah, verse 17).
What a strange expression! How can you possess
what you already possess?
The prophet is thinking about Israel. That nation had received some stunning promises from God (for example, Deuteronomy 28:9-13). What astonishing prosperity God offered Israel! In the mind of God, everything he had promised already belonged to the people, but they had never seized their inheritance. Sometimes through unbelief, sometimes through cowardice, sometimes through ignorance, or for another reason, they had left the splendid promise of God unclaimed. But one day, said Obadiah, that will all change, and Israel will at last fully possess its own possessions.
The church is like Israel. God has given us immense benefits. Christians are the owners of those blessings, yet they don’t possess them. We live as though our property were not ours, as though we still have to buy God’s gracious gifts by our own works, as though they have to be earned instead of received joyfully by faith.
This opening chapter does two things: it presents three of the benefits that we Christians are called upon to possess
by faith; and it lays a foundation for the chapters that follow, for the basic theme of this book is how you, by faith, can possess your own possessions!
POSSESS YOUR RIGHT TO PARDON
Christians often receive forgiveness from God without going on to grasp boldly his full pardon. They know they have escaped the penalty of sin, yet they walk in apprehension, sure that God still remembers every fault, and that he is unwilling to restore them to his full favour. Indeed, it takes a certain tenacity of faith, a certain aggressiveness of spirit, to possess the complete pardon, the full restoration, that the Father freely offers us in Christ.
Why?
Simply because every time you step up to the throne, and begin to ask God for some great thing, some mighty miracle, your own conscience (with some assistance from the Accuser) will stand in your way. A voice will whisper in your ear: Who do you think you are? What right do you have to approach God like this? How dare you ask God for such a splendid gift! Don’t you remember how roughly you spoke to your wife this morning?
And so on ... the list of accusations grows, the remembrance of your guilt intensifies, until you stammer an apology to God for having the effrontery ever to come before him with anything but tears! You cannot imagine how you had the gall to suppose you ever deserved anything from the Father except stern discipline!
But hear what God thinks about the matter: Psalm 103:12; Isaiah 44:22; Hebrews 8:12; and Jeremiah 50:20, which says,
search will be made for your sins, but none will be found.
Why won’t they be found? See Micah 7:18-19.
How hard it is to find something that has been buried at sea! Those who hunt for shipwrecks often know the exact location where a vessel once sank, yet they cannot find it. The shifting tides and sand do their work well and swallow into oblivion the ships and treasure that fall under their power.
Personal victory, bold access to the throne of grace, authority in prayer, your right to great answers from God, all begin here; that is, with an unwavering assurance that by the Blood of Jesus all memory of your sin has been erased, and that you can come freely before God as his faultless child (Hebrews 4:16; 10:19-23). Do not be denied. Possess your pardon!
Take time also to read the following promises - 1 John 1:9-10; 2:1-2; Titus 2:14; Hebrews 9:14; Revelation 1:5-6; 5:9-10; and many others. Those references all declare in different ways that God has utterly destroyed, not only our sins, but also all evidence of that sin, and even the very memory of it! There is a poetic licence in such statements. It is plain that neither God nor we can literally forget that we have sinned. But the scripture is graphically showing how God is ready to behave toward us as if we had never sinned. In response, he expects us to put the memory of sin out of our minds, and by the Blood of Christ to come freely into his presence.
Note also how the apostle, in Hebrews 6:1, instructs us not to keep on repenting over sins that have already been the subject of repentance. Don’t let Satan block your access to the throne of God by constantly stirring up the memory of sin. When God forgives, he forgets, and is willing to deal with you as if you never had violated any of his commands.
Because of Calvary, you have a right to affirm, Search may be made for my sins, but none will be found! I stand forgiven and restored to the favour of God.
POSSESS YOUR RIGHT TO PROVISION
See Ephesians 1:3. Note that God has already blessed you with every spiritual blessing
in the heavenlies. The phrase spiritual blessings
does not mean spiritual
in contrast with physical
, nor heavenly
in contrast with earthly
. It does not describe some ethereal joy that we might hope to gain on the other side of the grave. Rather, it means every blessing, every promise, every gift, that God has already laid up for us in Christ, in the heavenlies, which the Holy Spirit will convey into our lives when we boldly seize the promise by faith. It means personal victory, bodily healing, financial supply, successful service, and a hundred other priceless benefits that are yours now in Christ, waiting for you to possess them!
The annals of Alexander the Great provide an analogy to the generosity of our King. The Macedonian general had learned that many of his soldiers were heavily in debt to the merchants and moneylenders of Babylon. This burden had begun to erode the morale of his army, so although their own extravagance had impoverished them, Alexander decided to pay their debts out of his own treasury. The men, however, feared that they were being tested, to separate the wastrels from the frugal, and they showed reluctance to make their needs known. Alexander recognised the cause of their tardiness, that it was shame not stubbornness, so he ordered the entire army to be paraded before him. When they were assembled, he set up a line of tables, and piled onto them a vast sum of gold coins, then bade the men to come and claim what they needed. They pressed forward eagerly, and all their debts were cleared by the king’s generosity.
We are like the soldiers in that story. The same two things that held back Alexander’s troops also inhibit many Christians from possessing God’s provision -
- they are ashamed.
Just as the soldiers knew that their debt was a product of their own folly, and that they deserved censure rather than rescue, so many Christians feel that it is presumptuous for them to ask God to help them out of their financial troubles. It’s my own fault,
they say; it’s too late now to beg for help, I should have been more careful. Now I must learn to live with this problem and patiently endure the results of my carelessness.
But that self-deprecating attitude denies the promises of God. No doubt the Lord wants to teach you wisdom, and he wants to help you to avoid repeating your mistakes. No doubt he wants to teach us all how to be good stewards of the resources he has given us. He might even have to chastise you if you are wilfully disobedient (Hebrews 12:5-11). But he will never forsake you (13:5-6). Help is always available. Be bold to claim that help (Matthew 6:25-34).
- they are timid.
Just as the soldiers were afraid that Alexander was tricking them into admitting their fault, so that he could punish them, so many Christians are afraid that God will be angry with them if they confess their needs and ask for miraculous provision. Unhappily, multitudes of people have been indoctrinated to think that true piety is passive before God, asking nothing, wanting nothing, content to accept whatever Providence
has appointed. They have been taught that it is arrogant, even irreligious, to expect great things from God. Yet when you turn to scripture you will find yourself confronted by the demand: Come boldly to the throne, and ask for grace and mercy to help in time of need!
(Hebrews 4:16; 10:19-23; etc.) No more than Alexander did from his troops does God want your excuses or apologies; he looks instead for you to show confidence in his promise and boldness to seize the best of his blessing.
So then, there are two kinds of timidity that may affect us when we need to ask God for money (or for any kind of miracle of divine supply). One is a healthy caution, based on respect for such scriptures as Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:10-15; and 1 Timothy 6:6-10. We must certainly let those scriptures measure our attitude toward money; and we need to be content with whatever level of affluence best reflects the purpose of God for each of our lives (some may be called to great wealth, others to comparative poverty). The other is unhealthy. Based on cringing guilt, it reflects deep-seated unbelief and a sorry failure to understand the measure of God’s kindness toward us in Christ. It shows a twisted sense of unworthiness, a false humility, spiritual cowardice, disgraceful reluctance to accept the Word of God. Sometimes it results from listening to the devil’s lies; sometimes from a carnal wish, by suffering deprivation, to make a kind of personal atonement for sin. It may also be an expression of sheer pride, a determination to make it by myself
without God’s help, which disguises itself in downcast humility. Whatever the reason, timidity is forbidden to the Christian who approaches the throne of God! (Hebrews 4:16; 10:19-23).
Timorous souls need to become subject to the empowering Spirit (Acts 1:8); to gain a revelation of the promises of God (Ephesians 1:16-19); to stir up the implanted grace of God (2 Timothy 1:6-7); to begin to behave as children of God should (Romans 8:14-17); to stand tall in the courage of a servant of God (1 Corinthians 15:58; 16:13).
If you want further encouragement to trust God to meet your need, then ponder these promises: Matthew 6:25-34; Luke 6:38; 12:22-31; 2 Corinthians 8:8-9; 9:6-11; Philippians 4:19 (note how this promise sits within a framework of monetary gifts, verses 15-18); Proverbs 11:24-25; Hosea 14:4-7; Ephesians 3:20; plus every other promise of answered prayer in the Bible.
Are there any conditions attached to getting such prayers answered? Yes, there are. At least three conditions must be met:
(1) God does not hear those who are willfully continuing in sin;
(2) God will be as generous toward us as we are toward him (within the limits of our resources);
(3) perfunctory giving will not activate the promise - rather, your gift must be accompanied by faith, gladly confident that God will richly supply all your needs.
Before we leave the story of Alexander, notice that his motives were not entirely altruistic; generosity was not his sole reason. A large measure of self-interest lay behind his kindness to his soldiers. That dispirited body of men were worthless to him. But Alexander’s magnanimity fired them with a new zeal; their enthusiasm and toughness were wonderfully restored. Likewise, God needs a devoted, powerful, aggressive band of warriors, well-equipped for battle. So away with that spurious shame, that tedious timidity. Grip the pardon and provision of your God, and armed for war, go out and win victories for the King!
POSSESS YOUR RIGHT TO A PHYSICIAN
Just as surely as the Bible is full of promises of pardon and provision, so it is full of promises of healing. Turn where you will, and you will find that sickness is contrary to the best purpose of God, that his highest wish is for his people to enjoy good health (Exodus 15:26; Deuteronomy 7:15; Psalm 103:3; etc.)
Why then are some not healed when they pray? Because we have to possess the promise of healing; it will not fall into your hand of its own accord; you must make it happen by faith.
Have you asked God to make you well? Does he seem to ignore you? This is not the time to abandon hope, nor to surrender your trust in the covenant of healing. Rather, you should be like the people Jesus passed by
in the gospels, but who refused to be denied their miracle. Have you ever noticed those stories? Jesus was apparently willing to walk straight past many people who were sick or troubled, without making any attempt to help them. The gospels imply that he would have gone on his way, ignoring them, if they had not found a way to arrest his attention. Consider the following -
Matthew 9:27. The Greek expression used here has the sense, he had left that place, and had no intention of returning to it.
Indeed, so determined was Jesus to go on, he ignored the cries of the blind men who came stumbling after him, until they had forced their way into the house. Only then did he