1. Realize that as a believer you have the authority to speak to the mountains of life.

“Behold! I have given you authority and power to trample upon serpents and scorpions and (physical and mental strength and ability) over all the power that the enemy (possesses) and nothing shall in any way harm you” (Luke 10:19, AMP).

2. Find Scriptures that support what you are believing to be done.

God’s will and His promises are found in His Word:

• - Infilling of Holy Spirit: Acts 2:17-18
• - Salvation for our household: Acts 16:31
• - Healing: Isaiah 53:4-5; I Peter 2:24
• - Your needs abundantly supplied: Philippians 4:19; II Corinthians 9:8-15; II Corinthians 8:9; Luke 6:38

3. Speak the Word of God to your mountain.

Follow Jesus’ example by resting in the assurance that the mountain has to go.

4. Do not doubt or fear.

Do not doubt in your heart or check circumstances.  Keep your mind and mouth in agreement on the promise of His word.

5. Walk by faith.

Refuse to look at the mountain, knowing that we walk by faith and not by sight (II Corinthians 5:7).

Praise the Lord!  Let the praises continuously flow from your mouth!  The mountain has to go!

Celebrate the season with this Christmas gift from Vicki Jamison-Peterson Ministries!  Please pass this gift on by sharing this link with your friends!

This sample clip is from Vicki’s full-length audio recording of “The Four Gospels,” an 11-CD set available here.

Celebrate the season with this Christmas gift from Vicki Jamison-Peterson Ministries!  Please pass this gift on by sharing this link with your friends!

This sample clip is from Vicki’s full-length audio recording of “The Four Gospels,” an 11-CD set available here.

Celebrate the season with this Christmas gift from Vicki Jamison-Peterson Ministries!  Please pass this gift on by sharing this link with your friends!

This sample clip is from Vicki’s full-length audio recording of “The Four Gospels,” an 11-CD set available here.

There have been times when God has so poured forth upon me from the cornucopia of His love that I felt certain I would never again be unloving–only to be disappointed in myself.  There have been times when I have prayed, “Oh, God, make your children more aware of love…” not realizing that I was selfishly desiring to be the object of that love.

If Jesus admonished us to love our brothers as ourselves, then there must be a key which will unlock the way to love in our lives whereby we can learn to walk more surely in love.  It is only as we are sincere before the Lord in our desire to serve Him and have Him manifest His life through us that we are candidates to express to all around us His love–the God-kind of love.

This divine Love loved us and became flesh and dwelt among us.  The Babe was Love wrapped in swaddling clothes, coming to earth to redeem us that the Holy Spirit might live within the hearts of believers and God might love the world through us.

This Christmas let us open our hearts to God’s Gift of Love and purpose to share this love with others.  To do this, take the following steps:

1. Decide to make love your goal.

To make this holiday the most Christ-centered celebration ever, daily confess the following prayer, based on 1 Corinthians 13:1-8 (Amplified Bible), and watch the Holy Spirit manifest through you the God-kind of love everywhere you go.

“Father, if I (can) speak in the tongues of men and (even) angels, but have not love I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal… And if I have prophetic powers–that is, the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose; and understand all the secret truths and mysteries and possess all knowledge, and if I have (sufficient) faith so that I can remove mountains, but not (god’s love in me) I am nothing–a useless nobody, but Father, because grater is He that is in me than he that is in teh world, I ask you to love through me.  My confession of faith to You is that Your love in me endures long and is patient and kind.  The love I allow to flow through me is never envious nor boils over with jealousy.  This love which flows forth from my inner being is not conceited–arrogant and inflated with pride.  It is not rude (unmannerly), and does not act unbecomingly.  Love (God’s love in me) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking.  It is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it–pays no attention to a suffered wrong.  It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.  This love in me bears up under anything and everything that comes, is under all circumstances and it endures everything without weakening.  God’s love in me never fails.  Thank you, Lord, that the motivating force in my life is that I love the brethren.  Amen.”

You may feel like a hypocrite when you pray this prayer.  But if you will consistently pray this portion of God’s Word, His divine love will begin to flow from your life naturally and easily.  Be more concerned in your prayer life about the needs of others than your own; then you will see your problems being perfected in Him.

2. Refuse to react negatively toward the unlovely.

Love covers a multitude of sins.

3. Forgive.

Love and unforgiveness cannot operate together.

4. Demonstrate your love in every way possible.

As faith must have actions that correspond, so must love.  Love is powerless until acted upon.

God loved.  He gave us Jesus.  Jesus gave Himself for us.  Now the Holy Spirit lives in us to make us like our Father God.  We are filled with God’s love.  Now go and share it.  Wherever there is a need, help to meet it.  The more love you give away, the more you have to keep.  Christmas is for love.

Each spiritual principle in our lives in learned on the level of our maturity in Christ and His Word. What we learn this year should be a stepping stone to a greater depth in our Christian walk in years to come. It should teach us more fully how to live in Him, to move in Him, to have our being in Him (Acts 17:28). And just as we learned the faith principle, so can we learn the love principle. Just as we learned to walk by faith, so can we learn to walk in love.

Love is the first of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). Just as fruit grows, so love can grow also. Before fruit is produced on a tree, a lengthy process takes place, though unseen. But as sure as summer, the buds of spring burst forth into ripened fruit for all to partake. In this same way love can blossom, drawing others to partake of God’s love which is available to them through us.

This quality of divine love was not always present in my life. I loved those who loved me and gave to me as all of us do. But because of a lack of knowledge of this love principle, God’s divine love was not expressed in my daily life. Then several years ago I began my adventure of love. I remember especially an incident which took place one Christmas.

Ann, a girl whom I had known only casually, kept coming to my mind. Although I didn’t understand it, I sensed that she had a need. But I didn’t even know where she was. One day while my mother and I were Christmas shopping at a large mall in Dallas, Ann was sitting in a cafeteria there. Seeing us walk by, she ran out to greet us. She grabbed me and hugged me as if I were a long-lost friend. Then I realized that God has a reason for our chance meeting.

“Ann, you’ve been on my mind,” I told her. We talked for a while, then she walked with us out into the winer evening, shivering as she stood by the car to talk to me some more, for she wore no coat.

A few days later she called and said, “I’m separated from my husband who is in the service. I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to the hospital for surgery.”

While I listened to her I kept thinking of all that I still had to do to get ready for Christmas: there were more gifts to be bought, presented to be wrapped, baking and decorating to be done in preparation for the many relative who would be our guests over the holidays. But love whispered in my ear, “Find out what hospital she will be in.”

I was so busy that I didn’t really want to get involved. I thought I would just send her some flowers.

The day before her surgery was scheduled she called. Her voice edged with fear, she asked, “Could you just come by the hospital? I’m going to have surgery in the morning,” she said.

“Yes, I’ll come. I have family coming, but I’ll be there.”

Then the Lord said to me: “You be there!”

“Yes, Father,” I said. I was just learning to take orders.

I was there when Ann was rolled out of surgery. I stood over her and reached down and took her hand. At the time I didn’t know that her relationship with her mother was broken. She didn’t really have anyone. I stayed with her awhile, and as I left I asked the nurse, “When will Ann be released?”

“If she had someone to take care of her, she could go home before Christmas,” she answered. “But since she lives alone, she’ll have to wait until after the holidays.”

Driving home I told myself, “I’ve got my family here… I’m busy…”

But Ann kept coming to my mind. “Ann… she doesn’t have anywhere to go for Christmas…”

“I’ve got to wrap my presents, entertain my guests…”

“But what about Ann?” came a gentle reminder. Still I brushed it aside and tried to forget.

I went to the hospital to see Ann again. When I went home I couldn’t get her off my mind. I wondered, “What kind of Christmas will she have in the hospital?” But I quickly reminded myself that that wasn’t my responsibility.

“Oh, you’re not your brother’s keeper?” the Holy Spirit seemed to ask.

“Well, if you put it that way…”

Picking up the phone I dialed the hospital. “Ann, honey, do you think you might want to spend a few days at my house?”

“Spend a few days at your house?” she asked incredulously. “Let me check with my doctor and I’ll call you right back.” A few minutes later the phone rang and I heard Ann excitedly saying, “Yes, I can come! The doctor says I can be released on Christmas Eve.”

Then the Lord said, “Buy her a robe; she doesn’t have one.” So we bought a robe and some other presents for her and put them with ours under the Christmas tree.

I’ll never forget that Christmas Eve. I had a brand-new car which I was very proud of. I drove it to the hospital, picked up Ann and put her in the back seat of that new car. God wanted her to have a smooth ride home.

Do you know what happened as a result of this demonstration of God’s love–through me–to Ann? She walked into fellowship with Jesus. Then she wrote to her husband, and their marriage was restored.

God’s love puts others first–even when it’s not convenient.

Click here to subscribe to “Only Believe,” Vicki’s podcast, on iTunes.

If you use a service besides iTunes, click here to access the feed.

The scripture that had such a profound impact on my life was this:

“…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.  Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:23, 24).

Jesus and His disciples were on their way to Jerusalem one morning when in the distance they saw a fig tree.  Although this fig tree had leaves on it, it bore no fruit.  Jesus saw in this an opportunity to teach His followers a lesson in releasing the power of God in their lives.  Through this barren fig tree He would illustrate one of the most important principles of faith.

Approaching the fruitless fig tree, Jesus said to it, “No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever” (Mark 11:14).  The verse goes on to say, “And his disciples heard it.”  They were listening to what He had to say.  And whether we are aware of it or not, people are listening to what we say.  They are listening to our words, whether they are filled with faith or unbelief, fear or confidence, trash or inspiration.

After Jesus cursed the fig tree, to all outward appearances it remained unchanged.  Nevertheless, Jesus spoke only one time.  He didn’t beg and plead with the tree; He didn’t say, “Oh, please, tree, won’t you at least let a few of your leaves fall so all these people will know who I am’?”  No, Jesus was a man of faith, and He wasn’t worried about His reputation.  He knew when He spoke, it was done.  He just walked on down the road toward Jerusalem.

The next morning when Jesus and His disciples passed that way again, the disciples were astonished to see the fig tree dried up from its roots.  Then Jesus spoke the words that changed my life: “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” (Mark 11:23).

Now, the key word in this verse is whosoever.  The whosoever of John 3:16 can say unto the mountain, “Be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea.”  You can speak to the mountain in your life, whatever it may be, just as Jesus spoke to the fig tree.  You can say, “Go on, mountain, move!  I stand on the authority of the Word of God.  And because the Word of God is true, mountain, be thou removed.”

In speaking to the mountain, it is important that the believer “shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass.”  You’ve got to believe that what you say is going to happen.  The subject of the sentence is the believer, and if he believes that whatever he says will come to pass, “he shall have whatsoever he saith.”

Would you like to go on a great adventure?  Would you like to speak to mountains, and watch them be removed?  You can as you dare to trust God!  By faith you can say, “I’m going to dare to believe that I can say to the mountains in my life,’Be thou removed!’  I’m going to look into the Word of God and read it with the eye of faith.  I’m going to trust God as I’ve never trusted Him before because I’m not going to limit Him.  For He is the limitless God who rules the universe, who spoke the world into existence.  I am going to live victoriously because the Word of God says, “Whosoever…” and that means me!”

Well, you can go to a psychiatrist.  You can take tranquilizers.  Or you can do what much of the population does every evening–you can have a cocktail, and then another.  You see, people have to do something to relieve the pressure that is on their minds.  Every few seconds something pushes another person over the line, and they wind up under psychiatric care or in the care of a physician.  Worse than that, many of the people never receive help of any kind.  They’re embarrassed, they’re ashamed; they don’t want to talk about it.  It’s terrible to have a mental problem and to hide it in the closet, hoping it will go away.

One of my beloved friends whom I love and respect very much had this tremendous battle.  She called me one Saturday morning weeping and crying.  That’s what made me want to go into research on the mind and emotions, to see if anything can be done.  As she cried, I began to share with her from the Word of God.  Look at what Paul is telling us here in Philippians 2:5: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”  That word let assumes that you understand you are the subject of the sentence.  You let the same attitude and purpose and humble mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus.

When someone is having emotional problems it is so easy for others to very tritely quote the Word of God.  Though we stand on the Word and confess it and quote it, we must learn how to act on the Word.  There’s more to it than just saying to them, “Let this mind be in you.”  Well, they would if they knew how!  How do you let the mind of Christ be in you that was in Christ Jesus?  What’s the key?

In I Corinthians 2:16, Paul says, “But we have the mind of Christ, the Messiah, and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of his heart” (Amplified Version).  This is a statement to–of all people–the Corinthians, the folks who just couldn’t quit talking in tongues!  The emotional Corinthians.  He made some very positive faith statements about these people that we think were “far out.”  He said, “You have the mind of Christ, Corinthians.”  How do we know what the mind of Christ is?

Look at Luke 4:1-4.  Jesus was full of and controlled by the Holy Spirit.  He had just received the Holy Spirit at the Jordan River; then He went out into the wilderness and began to fast, and you know what happened there.  Notice what happens when the Holy Spirit is in control.  The Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness, but He was tempted of Satan.

Who is the author of sickness, disease, harassment and doubts?  Satan.  Where does he come first to most people?  Into the area of the mind.  Otherwise, you wouldn’t be worrying all the time.  He is the author of worry and frustration.  And that’s what begins this emotional state of being victimized by Satan–the “What if?” syndrome.  “What if I die with cancer?  What if I lose my husband?  What if I lose my children?  What if I lose my job?”

Do you know what kind of mind Jesus had?  His mind was controlled by the Spirit.  A mind that is controlled by the Spirit is filled with the Word of God.  When Satan tempted Him to cause a stone to turn to a loaf of bread, Jesus replied, “It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4).

Several years ago, my own mother had an emotional problem, and had to seek a doctor’s help.  He told her, “Once you’ve had this problem, it’s as if all the elasticity has gone out of your nerves.  They will never snap back. You will have to be careful the rest of your life to not be under pressure.  You must avoid anything that would upset you.”  After that, she had surgery on her eyes, and again her nerves were a problem.  I remember that Mother couldn’t even walk through a store with me without sitting and resting, and I was very concerned.  Her nerves were very, very bad.

In 1966, Kenneth Hagin came to Dallas.  He got up and said, “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” (Mark 1l:23).  Do you mean to tell me that I can act on the Word of God and it will work in my life?  I had been looking for that all my life.  When I heard that, I got my mother, my father, my husband, everybody, and said, “Come on and hear–God heals; His Word is true!”  I didn’t know how to make it work, but I sure did tell everybody.  And little by little, we began to be spoon-fed the Word of God.

We didn’t get it in a day, or a week or a month.  It has been years of feeding upon the Word of God.  First of all, we settled in our hearts that God is God.  His Word is true, and He means what He says.  His Word is for us, and it will work.  It took my mother through blindness for one summer.  All she could do was put those faith-teaching tapes in the tape player.  Twenty percent vision was all she had left.  “No cure,” the doctors said.  But she listened to the Word of God, and she sees today.  She kept saying, “I will see.”  She kept acting like she could see, and she did see.  Nothing is impossible with God!

Recently we had another attack on our family.  My mother works very hard, and I’m so proud of all the work she does and what she has accomplished.  One day I was coming in from out of town, and I just sensed in my spirit that something was wrong with my mother.  I walked into the office, and when I saw her face I could see the tentacles of that demonic oppression had attached themselves to my mother.  I knew we were in for a round.  But praise God, I knew His Word!  It was the greatest fight I have ever had over my mother’s mind.  In the past I had said, “I’ll do something to get her away for two or three days.”  For that person you love, you tend to carry them around on a little cushion.  You do need to be careful, but my spirit had had it from Satan for the last time on that subject.

I declared out and out warfare against the devil, and I was determined to win it this time.  I said, “We’re not going to put up with this anymore!”  I told her, “Mother, this is not just an attack against you; it’s an attack against this ministry.”  Then we prayed, and we bound that thing and said, “In the mighty name of Jesus, we’ll not have this.”  She did not get any better; in fact, she cried more.  I tried every kind of talk; I tried pep talk, happy talk, joyful talk, victory talk.  The more I talked, the more my mother cried.

That was Monday.  We went through it again Tuesday.  I went home Tuesday night, and into the night I fought the good fight of faith.  I had a mental image of my mother cringing in a mental institution.  I heard her whining and crying; I saw her pulling at herself.  I had never seen that before, but I saw it that night.  I took the guilt and responsibility of that thing and gave it to God, and then prayed in the Spirit.  Satan would again show me that vision of my mother, and I would come back with the Word of God.

“It is written, Satan, it is written: by His stripes she has been healed. She’s well, she’s whole, and I bind you in Jesus’ name.”  Then Satan would show me my mother cringing and crying in a mental hospital.  After about an hour of that I realized I had to change that mental image of my mother.  I had to see her according to the Word of God, with the mind of Christ.  I began to see my mother speaking and teaching and preaching.  I saw her dynamic and self-assured.  My mind kept trying to see her the way she was when I left her that day.  But I made myself see her dynamic and powerful and full of the Word of God.  I went to sleep with that image.  I got up the next morning and began to pray, and the Lord said, “Go call your mother.”

I got on the phone and began to talk faith.  “Praise God, Mother, you’ll never go through that again!”

She said, “I know it, I got victory last night!”  The same hour I was in my bedroom fighting that image of her being in a mental institution, she was at home sitting up in bed.  She realized she had to fight it herself.  We can stand together in prayer with people, but ultimately, folks, you’re going to have to stand on your own for your own mental health. Philippians 4:8 tells us, “For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind, winsome, and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things–fix your minds on them” (Amplified Version).  Everything is pure and lovely and wonderful and good, seeing my mother up teaching the Word of God.

I said, “Mother, what did you say when you began to fight the devil?”

She said, “The thing I said more than anything else at midnight as I sat up in my bed was, ‘I resist you in the name of Jesus, Satan.’”

The Bible says to resist him and he will flee (James 4:7).  So her part was to resist him with her mouth.  She also said, “No weapon that is formed against thee (me) shall prosper” for my righteousness is of the Lord (Isaiah 54:17).

She also quoted I Peter 2:24: “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”  That is past tense.  I have been healed, and I am healed!

Let’s testify: “Praise God, I have the victory!  I have it because Jesus paid for it!  He defeated Satan and therefore I can use His name!”

Then she said the number one thing that has helped her through the years is Philippians 3:13, 14: “I do not consider, brethren, that I had captured and made it my own, but one thing I do–it is my one aspiration: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward” (Amplified Version).

At midnight I got the victory; she got the victory; we all got the victory!  Praise the Lord for the victory that is in Him and His Word!