Say To This Mountain
"Let them have
complete authority"
Say To This Mountain
"Let them have
complete authority"
Preface
When I came back to the Lord many years ago I was impressed at the simplicity of Jesus' teaching of 'Say to This Mountain', as found in Matthew, Mark and Luke, and quickly put it into practice - it worked!
When I heard people attempt to use it in church, in prayer meetings and the like, I noticed that they were not following Jesus' simple instructions. Maybe that was why they were attempting to deal with the same issues week after week?
There are more than a few popular Christian worship songs as well which show a strong misunderstanding of the method and principles involved.
Here is how to get it right and see those mountains (problems) move! Real-life examples are also given.
Choose a topic from the list below, or scroll through to begin at the Introduction
While 'Say to This Mountain' is really very simple in operation when it is used as Jesus demonstrated and taught, knowing its background and accompanying tools makes it so much more powerful to use.
We have seen and heard children as young as six use it to remove pain or sickness from their own bodies. It's even better when it is used for someone else's benefit.
To speak to mountains we combine four Biblical tools which are under-used or misunderstood, and which are frequently not used according to instructions:
“Let us make mankind in Our image, and let them have complete authority over (everything under the heavens).” “...and subdue the Earth.”
Authority was given by God to mankind at Creation. Mankind’s authority was never taken away by God, mankind just seldom used it as God intended.
We were given the same sort of creative ability that God displayed at Creation. Perhaps the greatest demonstration of this was meant to happen at Meribah (Numbers 20:7-13) when the Israelites had run out of water. God told Moses to speak to the rock and water would flow out. However, Moses was angry with the people, and struck the rock instead.
In that moment Moses lost two important opportunities: i) to enter the Promised Land, and ii) to be involved in the greatest demonstration of human authority in the Old Testament. The felling of the walls of Jericho by the combined shouts of tens of hundreds of thousands of Israelites pales in comparison to what would have been achieved by the normal speaking voice of one man.
Authority is the ability to use a simple command, or a gesture, or sometimes even just a person’s presence in a particular location, to start or stop something. Authority is not power.
Think of a set of traffic lights, which have little power, maybe a few hundred watts in any direction, but lots of authority. Motor vehicles, which these days have hundreds of kilowatts of power, travelling in that direction will stop when the light turns red, and go when it turns green. The vehicle might have 1000 times more power than the traffic lights, but they will stop because of the authority of the lights.
At Creation, mankind was given authority over everything on the land, in the sea, and in the air. God did not take away their authority after The Fall, their big mistake, in Genesis 3.
When Jesus ascended to Heaven He extended that authority to mankind to cover things in the heavenly realm as well. (Matthew 28:18-19) Not authority over Heaven itself, where God dwells, but over all the works of the enemy.
In the Christian analogy we now have lots of authority over the works of the enemy, but very little power. The devil and the ‘spirit forces of wickedness’ (see Ephesians 6 - demonic spirits under the devil’s control) have lots of power, but limited authority, which is why we can overwhelm them.
Authority out-manouvres and overcomes power every time.
While we can see our temporal physical bodies, our eternal soul (thoughts, feelings, emotions and intellect) and our eternal spirit (the part which communicates with God and tends to co-rule with the soul over the body) are both invisible but very real.
It is our souls which have the authority, using a mixture of knowledge and faith to take control. We can refuse that extra food, or the wrong type of food; we can stop flirting with that person who is already taken, and so on. According to 1 Corinthians 10:13 there is no temptation allowed to come upon us that we cannot resist. None at all.
Once we allow temptation to proceed past that initial thought or a certain point, there comes a time, especially with addictive behaviour, where the temptation becomes impossible to resist, and the spirit behind it impossible to subdue. This is very obvious with food, alcohol and other recreational drugs, a lot of sexual activity (including masturbation) and more. (Please note that I am not here to control what you want to do; instead, I am writing to help you take control of what you don't want to do.)
The (evil) spirits involved in temptation who then take control to manipulate the actions we later wish we could avoid (or not, for some people) have general names like Lust, Anger, Fear, Anxiety, Rage, Hatred, Greed, Avarice, Fantasy Lust, Jealousy, Resentment, Revenge and so on.
When we issue a command to change a situation that, too, operates in the spirit realm, even though it most likely will be designed to change something in the physical realm.
It is important to remember that everything we see, everything we know of is undergirded by spirit. Everything we don't see also is undergirded by spirit. Just because we cannot see it with our natural eyes does not mean it is not so. That is why Jesus continually used physical examples to demonstrate principles and functions in the spiritual realm: they both run on the same processes.
Hebrews 1:3 describes Jesus as "the radiance of God, the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power." One word and it could all come crashing down? Possibly.
Even the Apostle Paul acknowledged some difficulty in seeing or understanding this spirit connection when he said, "For now we see in a mirror dimly" (or 'see through a glass darkly'). 1 Corinthians 12:13.
a) Permission given or granted to someone or received by someone, to control or direct what someone else or something else will do.
b) The ability to control or direct a person, object or situation by commands, without using physical, verbal or manipulative force or threats.
Authority is exercised by speaking in a normal voice; if you shout or shake a fist and the like you are attempting to achieve your ends by exercising power rather than authority. Authority can be exercised by speaking under your breath (silently) to the person or object.
There is a popular, catchy worship song in 2024 with a chorus of wishful thinking which includes the words:
When I lift my voice and shout
Every wall comes crashing down
I have the authority Jesus has given me.
That's not authority, that's bluster. It worked at Jericho because a whole nation marched around the city and then lifted up their voices as one. It's not the way Jesus used authority, it's not the way He taught the disciples. It's not the way we work by ourselves or in pairs.
When I open up my mouth
Miracles start breaking out
If only that was true - it could be, but very few people do ministry like Jesus.
Giants fall when You stand
Once again, an Old Covenant image. The New Covenant teaches that giants fall at our command. That fits in with the metre, too!
Words from Champion, © Bethel Music Publishing
These words of prophecy about the coming Messiah demonstrate how authority is exercised.
"Behold, My Servant, I take hold on Him...I have put My Spirit upon Him.
"He does not cry out nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.
"A bruised reed he does not break, a dimly burning wick He does not put out." Isaiah 42:1-3
Authority works in one or more of three different areas:
c) Positional authority comes from our position in our sphere of influence, which could be work, community, family or church, or in any other sphere of influence where we have been given a position which demands or commands respect and/or compliance. The authority God gave mankind at Creation (above or over all of Creation) is Positional. The authority which Jesus extended to us just prior to His ascension (authority in 'heaven', that is authority over all the work of the enemy but not authority over the Heaven of heavens where God dwells) is also Positional.
d) Relational authority comes from our relationship with people in work, community, family or church, and could be based on our good character, integrity, work ethic, morality, perseverance, calmness under pressure, leadership skills or any of a number of characteristics which endear us to people. A good preacher will work to increase the perception of his authority by working on building a relationship with his listeners over a twenty or thirty minute period.
e) Situational authority occurs when someone with neither Positional nor Relational authority takes control in a particular situation that lacks direction, connection, involvement or leadership. In general, situational authority is ephemeral but, depending on the circumstances could become relational or positional. In most cases, though, situational authority ceases once the situation is past. One example would be at a road accident scene, where an ordinary citizen directs vehicles around the accident until police arrive.
The earth and all that is in it has never been handed over by God to the enemy (see Psalm 24:1), but in part by mankind. Because of the mistakes we make we ultimately give the enemy power over us in each and every mistake, and so we get handed over to be mistreated by them. That's situational power, that's what the enemy have over mankind. The authority God gave mankind at Creation is positional authority, which over-rides power of every kind including, ultimately, situational power. Section 4 of "Job - Why Things Go Wrong" looks into this further.
f) A teacher in a classroom, for example, should have a certain amount of passive authority - the students will remain quiet and do their work just because he or she is there. If the class becomes noisy the teacher might issue a command to restore order again - their authority has become active.
In Mark 3:11 we see examples of Jesus' passive authority. "And the unclean spirits, as often as they saw Him, fell down before Him crying out, You are the Son of God."
There is another, well-known example, of 'the woman with the issue of blood'. "She had heard the reports concerning Jesus, and she came up behind him in the crowd and touched His garment...And immediately her flow of blood was dried up and she felt in her body that she had been healed..." Mark 5:27,29
It is recorded in Acts 5:15 that sick people were placed in the street so that Peter's shadow might fall on them as he passed, that some might be healed.
Paul's passive authority was transferred to handkerchiefs and aprons that he had touched, and these were "put upon the sick, and their diseases left them and evil spirits came out of them." Acts 19:12 However, it is equally important to note that this was not Paul's idea. As in any exercise of passive authority, the action has to start with God Himself. The preceding verse says, "And God did extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul...:
On two occasions, now, after sitting down next to someone in the crowd at a church, the person I sat beside has told me, "As soon as you sat down next to me, all my pain left." At the time I had no idea that they were in pain. That is passive authority. I don't control that, but our overall surrender to Jesus and submission to Holy Spirit allows God to manifest signs and wonders in anyone who is willing.
On occasions I have encountered people during my courier work who were suffering from a bad headache. Having been warned several times not to do any sort of ministry in anyone's workplace (this is in the US) I simply looked at them intently for a few seconds before asking, "What's happening with the headache?" In each case they answered with some surprise, (including mine), "It's gone!"
Note: 'Faith' does not necessarily actively require us to believe that a particular person will be healed or that a particular action will produce the healing. Instead, just as James implies in several places in his letter to the twelve tribes, 'faith' gets us to do something which then allows God to complete the action in Their way. If you are not sure about that, just ask this question: how much faith did Lazarus or Jairus' daughter have before they were brought back to life?
g) Jesus demonstrated active authority continually: when He commanded the storm to stop, when he told a paralysed man to do something that he was incapable of doing ("Pick up your sleeping pad and go home"), when he healed Peter's mother-in-law of a fever with just a word, when He spoke to a dead man and told him to come out of his burial cave, and so on. There are many accounts like this.
Peter used active authority when he said to a man who could not walk, "Walk," and then lifted him up by his hand. Acts 3:6 say that his feet and ankle bones became strong in that moment.
Paul used active authority after he saw that a lame man had faith to be healed. He stopped his message and called out to the young man to "Stand to your feet." The young man leapt to his feet, obviously healed. Acts 14:9-10
Over the years I have learnt to use active authority extensively to change weather situations, such as stopping or dramatically reducing destructive windstorms nearby, to stop impending rain for weddings and the like, to bring rain during drought, to bring opposing political opponents together for peace and the good of their country, and more. Many of these things have occurred in the presence of witnesses who will attest to the reality. What is even more exciting is to teach others to do the same.
You can read about some of these in Real Life Examples.
h) Personal authority allows us to control to a great extent negative or 'bad' things which would otherwise happen to us, such as sickness (colds and flu), pain (headaches, period pain or discomfort) and many medical conditions including addictive behaviour. Some methods for dealing with things like this are given in the introduction to Dealing with Problems under the heading Solutions.
Even little children have personal authority and I have seen them successfully tell sickness or pain to go from their bodies. Several pre-teens who were listening to me explain to the adults what and how to 'do' this ministry jumped ahead and followed the simple instructions as they were being given and were healed of neck and shoulder pain on the spot. In contrast the adults waited for the instructions to be given in full.
Where I used to personally speak healing or deliverance over people in need, since 2018 we actually get the person in need to speak to the problem themselves, with the same dramatic, on-the-spot results.
Jesus seldom used personal authority. When He stilled the storm on the lake that was extended authority, because He did it for the disciples' sake, not for Himself.
There are several instances in which it could be said that He used personal authority:
i) When He walked on water to cross the Sea of Galilee. Matthew 14:22-33
ii) When He sent Peter to cast a line into the sea to catch a fish which, He said, would have a coin in its mouth to pay the temple tax for the two of them. Matthew 17:24-27. Note that He didn't use offering money for personal expenses, even when the expense had been occasioned by the mistake of someone else on the ministry team. Instead, He relied on His Father's miraculous provision.
iii) When He sent the disciples to obtain a donkey for Him to ride into Jerusalem. That was possibly not so much out of personal need but to fulfill an ancient Scripture. Matthew 21:1-11 (Zechariah 9:9)
iv) When He sent the disciples to secure a place for the Passover. Mark 14:12-16
i) Extended authority allows us to help others deal with problems, either with their knowledge or in the background, unknown to them. Extended authority can also be applied to people, groups, churches, secular organisations and government organisations as God reveals the need and the solution or step to be followed. Extended authority allows us to change things like the weather, to bring rain or stop rain, to moderate or stop storm events and the like, as God directs.
Extended authority might initially only work within your own neighbourhood, then your city, then your state, your country and eventually, overseas, as God permits and directs.
The important thing with using or attempting to use extended authority is to be certain that what we are about to say is within God's plan for us to do. In general, if we have been exercising our authority, extended authority can be used anywhere that we are on-site. If we attempt to use authority to change a situation without success, in general we should assume that we have stepped outside of God’s wisdom and/or plan for us in regard to using authority in that particular situation.
There is more on this important topic in Part 4, The Keys of the Kingdom.
Jesus demonstrated extended authority continually.
Extended authority is frequently used in deliverance ministry, and can be used in healing ministry when the person's personal authority does not seem to work. In other words, someone else (often, by default, the leader, but it could be anyone capable) uses their authority to bring deliverance or healing to another person. In many, many meetings, people bring both deliverance and healing into their own lives as we lead them to follow the words and actions of Jesus. However, we find continually that when someone is not healed on the spot there is usually an unresolved issue from their past that needs to be dealt with first.
On occasions when I have been dealing with a child in serious need my words brought no change, but by getting the parent to speak those words the problem was instantly resolved. In other words, a parent's personal authority (personal because of the close family relationship) can be more effective than a gifted stranger's extended authority.
Most of Jesus' miracles occurred in His direct presence, but some were remarkable in the way that they also worked remotely. The key to understanding this lies in Jesus' remarkable claims that:
He could do nothing by Himself
It was the Father in Him doing the works
For this reason, as Jesus demonstrated at the tomb which contained Lazarus, He lifted His eyes in front of the people and thanked His Father that He always heard Him, just before He called the dead man to come out. Jesus spoke the words (as we are meant to do) and His Father, via the angels He had commissioned, did the work of lifting a dead man, hands and feet bound in burial cloths, to his feet and pointed him in the right direction towards the exit that he could not see (as the Father does for us, also).
Some examples of Jesus' authority working directly are:
"When evening came they brought to Him many who were under the power of demons, and He drove out the spirits with a word." Matthew 8:16. By the way, that word is "Go." It really is that simple, although I normally name them first, then give the command.
"He then said to the paralysed man, Get up. Pick up your bed and go home." Matthew 9:6.
"Then He said (to the man with the withered hand), Stretch out your hand. And the man reached it out, and it was restored." Matthew 12:13
Note how Active Authority works directly by giving commands. Those commands are normally to do something that the person has been unable to do.
Some examples of Jesus' authority working remotely are:
The ten lepers - Luke 17:11-19
Ten men. lepers, met Jesus on the outskirts of a village and cried out to Him to have mercy on them. He simply said, "Go, and show yourselves to the priests" (the established way to be certified as cured). "And as they went they were cured." v14
The centurion's servant - Matthew 8:5-13
A centurion begged Jesus to heal his servant from paralysis. Jesus agreed to come to his house and do so, but the centurion said that wasn't necessary, that Jesus could heal his servant from where He was with just a word because He had authority. Jesus spoke no healing words. Instead He gave a command: "Go, it shall be done for you as you have believed. And the servant boy was healed at that very moment." v13
For further information on this very important incident see Part 2 - Say To This Mountain under the sub-heading: The Simplicity of Commands and Declarations
The Canaanite woman's daughter - Matthew 15:22-28
This foreigner mother sought deliverance for her daughter, who was back home suffering oppression from the enemy. After some powerful word-duelling between her and Jesus demonstrated her faith in His ability to deal remotely with the evil spirit He said, "Be it done for you as you wish. And her daughter was cured from that moment." v28
For a powerful personal example see How authority works remotely in the spirit in Real Life Examples
j) Most people's authority is static because they never use it. It's potentially there, but functions a lot like physical muscle - if we don't use them they waste away. The idea is to practice using authority on yourself or in your own situation, commanding something that you know God will bring to pass. As we gain confidence from seeing successes in one place we will want to extend into others.
k) It is much like wanting to be a top athlete or top anything else: you don't just grab your running shoes and head to the Olympic Stadium and say, "I'm the next top athlete for you." You train, train, train, and compete at small events and then move up. Using our authority works in the same way: as we use our authority, it increases. Authority can eventually be used to change situations around us, in our own country and then overseas, even in the political or governmental areas.
Initially, though, we get practice working on issues in our own life, our own family, our own community to build up our knowledge of what to say to bring change. Then, as we see success based on hearing from God about what issues to tackle, we will also hear from God about extending our authority into other areas.
l) Our authority can diminish based on our behaviour, or if our actions don't match our words or God's instructions to us, or if our words are negative. Moses failed to speak to the rock at Meribah to bring forth water, and was not given the opportunity to use that sort of authority again. Elijah showed great control and authority in dealing with the 500 prophets of Baal, but suddenly ran from the threat of one woman. With that he was deemed unsuited for his role and Elisha replaced him. (Nonetheless, Elijah was given the greatest send-off at the conclusion of his ministry. See 2 Kings 2:1-12)
Continue to Part 2 below