Who Are You, O Great Mountain?

God has been speaking to me about the necessity of really examining how we are building The Temple of The LORD — which is us.

I’ve been reading through Haggai, Zechariah 4, Ezra and Nehemiah 4 — all these books of the Bible talk about the rebuilding process.

So, in Haggai, the thing that stood out to me is that the people had an indifferent attitude towards the construction of the temple, which, from God’s perspective, polluted everything the people touched.

It was their attitudes that made the works of their hands unacceptable, and it was the attitude of people’s hearts that left them unclean in the eyes of The LORD.

God said, “Consider your ways.” In other words, God was asking them to take stock of their lives, because they were so preoccupied with personal comfort, the people were ignoring the central spiritual concerns of their lives.

God came to shake those faulty thoughts and beliefs and get them to wake up, because those things did not honor God, and those things actually made their worship unacceptable.

When’s the last time you heard a message that made you think like that?

Most people are so accustomed to hearing a watered-down message, that it doesn’t do anything to bring conviction, and where there’s no conviction there’s no motivation to change.

Instead of impacting the culture with kingdom influencers, people have been raised up in The Church to expect entertainment and feel-good messages, so we’ve got an entire generation or more that doesn’t know God’s ways.

They’ve been raised on milk and still aren’t ready for meat. Our culture has made it a common practice to dance around the real issues of people’s lives because no one wants anyone to feel bad about themselves, but that attitude towards preaching the gospel of the kingdom leaves people spiritually immature.

There is a necessity in The Body of Christ to share Truth in love that convicts and compels people to desire personal growth.

I pray that if you’re reading this article, it will challenge you to examine yourself honestly, not according to your own opinion of yourself, which can be influenced by self-deception, but according to the measuring rod of God’s Word.

Invite God to examine you, to show you where you may have made excuses for letting yourself off the hook when it comes to a need for change.

Looking back to the books of Nehemiah, Ezra, Zechariah and Haggai gives us some powerful insights. When the people saw all the rubble of the city, it was so great all they could see was the massive difficulties that were set before them and they felt overwhelmed.

Now, I’ve often heard the message of rebuilding applied to cities or the need to focus on building the local Church, but we would be missing the point of the message if we didn’t bring it back to how these Truths apply to each of us individually.

All the rebuilding of the outer structures would accomplish no eternal purpose, if the Rebuilding and Restoration process had not also been accompanied by ethical teaching and reform of the inner man, because we are now each the temple of The LORD.

We are The House of God, a habitation for His Spirit.

Have you ever felt like there are things in your life that stand in your way from making progress, but you’re not sure what they are, and you just get frustrated?

Maybe you’re looking at issues in your family, your marriage or something else and you can’t figure out what is hindering your ability to change into a new season.

It can lead to feeling very discouraged because you know there must be a reason why you’re stuck or not making as much progress as would like, but you can’t identify it.

Well, that’s what the Jewish people felt like too, when they saw the problems that stood in the way of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and the restoration of the city.

Each one of us makes up our cities. Every family. Every household. It felt overwhelming.

God saw the discouragement in the people at the thought of how much effort it would take to remove all the hindrances, the things that look like rubble and impediments, and He said, even though all these things feel like mountains of impossibilities, I’m going to bring you help in the form of prophets to deal with this stuff.

The Prophet’s role was to help remove these impediments. Perhaps you ask how could they do that? Well, that’s what we are going to take a look at today.

Here we can identify a potential problem in the lives of many people because they do not have a personal relationship with a prophet in their life.

God blessed the people because they listened to the prophets and the preaching of the word. Ezra 6:14 says,

“So the elders of the Jews built, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo.” Ezra 6:14

reiterates this thought when it is written,

“Believe in The LORD your God and you shall be established; believe His prophets and you shall prosper.” 2 Chronicles 20:20

So right here, we see that a key to prospering and being established is to be rightly connected to a prophet in your life.

I’m not talking about just anyone that wants to try their hand at giving a prophetic word, but someone that truly has that prophetic mantle and hears from God.

Because the Prophetic Voice is there to declare what God is saying in the earth. It gives light on your path and direction.

Prophetic Anointing sees what maybe you can’t see or can help bring clarity to some issue.

Prophets recognize when things are out of order. Those who walk in deliverance ministry are people with prophetic ability to see and identify demonic root systems.

If you can’t see the root of the problem, you can’t discern how to properly deal with it. God puts gifts in people so that we learn to be humble, ask for help, and learn to honor the gifts in others in the body.

And, the apostolic anointing is there to help you build, to compel movement in The Body of Christ and establish a true plumbline in a person’s life.

Apostles have gone through many trials, testing, adversity and have the testimonies to prove it. They have experience with God and are there to help you build your house with a true foundation.

They are there as mothers and fathers in the faith to help guide and correct issues, and sometimes that means fixing things in a person’s foundation.

There are core issues in each person’s life, belief systems and character issues rooted in their foundation that may not allow them to build a healthy marriage, family, relationships or ministry.

Zerubbabel led the first group of Jews to their return from exile to Jerusalem. He became the governor of Judea under the Persians and became instrumental in helping to rebuild the temple.

In the Bible, Zerubbabel appears in the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah. So, I am pulling from different scriptures to illustrate a point.

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah also discuss the rebuilding process over the span of time.

Zerubabbel had a plumbline to measure the accuracy of the foundation and make sure the walls were built straight.

See, if there is something in us where we’re not building on Truth, it will not allow stability to the rest of the building project, and you are the building!

Truth and error are no cohesive. God will shake what needs to be shaken in order to help you realize where there’s something that does not line up in Truth.

It might be your marriage, your ministry, your family situation or a business relationship. What is he shaking?

Where do you sense instability? Where do you have a lack of peace? A lack of peace often indicates a need for healing and deliverance, because demons never let people rest. They disrupt your peace.

In Zechariah 4, an Angel appeared to the prophet Zerubbabel, and had a conversation with him, but somewhere as this is happening Zerubbabel’s heart grew dull, or he grew tired, and the angel had to wake him up.

This shows us how much we also need The Spirit of God to awaken us and help us to understand divine things.

Point #1: God sends His Messengers to get us to wake up to the fact that there is something he wants to show us.

The first question the Angel asked him was, “What do you See?”

Zerubbabel wasn’t sure what he was looking at, and he told the Angel as much. I don’t want to focus so much on the vision right now, but the fact that the prophet asked questions.

In essence, he said, “I’m not sure what I’m looking at, what does this mean?”

How many times do you see something in a Dream, or maybe you get a Word, but you fail to ask the right question?

Point #2: If we are going to learn from God, we need to be humble enough to admit our own ignorance when we don’t have clarity. “God, I’m seeing something, but what do you mean by this?”

The Angel responded not by clarifying all the prophet’s questions, but by saying something that made him understand the bigger picture.

The vision was designed to help the prophet hear what God was saying about the situation.

This Word which The LORD said to Zerubbabel was to encourage him to go on with the building of the temple.

What The LORD was really saying through this was,

“Hey Zerubbabel, even though there are enemies and adversaries set against you and they desire to stop my process of restoration in your life, I’m with you in this, and it won’t be accomplished by human means but by My Spirit.

I’m going to intervene with supernatural assistance to help you get this done.”

The difficulties are represented by a great mountain which must be removed, or the work cannot go on.

Truly, this process cannot be accomplished in our natural strength. That is why Zerubabbel said,

“Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain. Then he will bring forth the capstone accompanied by shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’ ” Zechariah. 4:7

Zerubabbel saw a mountain and understood that whatever it was, stood in opposition to the rebuilding and restoration project.

Enemies come to disrupt the unity and rebuilding process. The people felt overwhelmed, which is exactly what the enemy wanted them to feel.

It would have been easy for them to lose heart and say, “This is impossible! We can’t do it! We give up!”

Then God brings a man, a prophet named Zerubabbel, to address this mountain, and he says, “WHO do you think you are?”

It’s like David getting in Goliath’s face and saying, “How dare you withstand my God? I’m going to take your head off!”

Zerubabbel says something similar as he speaks to the mountain – “Before Zerubabbel, you will become a level plain.”

In other words, I’m going to make sure I deal with this mountain of whatever that is standing in my way. It’s blocking my path. It wants to refuse to cooperate and move aside, but I’m going to defeat what stands in opposition to my breakthrough and it’s not going to be in my own strength.

Victory is going to come by The Spirit of God as I declare ‘Grace, Grace, Grace!’ over this situation. “Not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of The LORD,” (Zechariah 4:6)

Different translations say either ‘who are you or what are you?’ And that is the key to what I want to share with you.

Zerubabbel was speaking to A WHO and A WHAT. In other words, he was asking who or what is standing in opposition to the work of The Kingdom?

Zerubabbel prophesied that the mountain would become a level plain. He spoke to its removal because he realized that the work of restoration was being hindered by opposing forces that intended to stop the work of God, or at the very least, delay it as much as possible.

Let’s focus our attention on the what. Zerubabbel said ‘what are you?’ The what is any enemy that withstands the work of The Kingdom.

It’s a spirit that stubbornly says, “I’m not going to cooperate with this process. I’m not going to let you move forward; I’m going to block you.”

It’s a spirit that resists the authority of Christ in some area of your life. It may try to avoid detection with persuasive arguments, but it still poses as an adversary to your faith.

WHAT is your mountain? Where is the enemy taunting and challenging your faith?

Zerubabbel was God’s Agent — His Ambassador — so to speak, to come in the name of The LORD and speak to the mountain.

Now, sometimes there is more than one mountain that needs to be removed. Mountains can represent strongholds.

Mountains represent something that has been there for a long, long, time. Mountains can represent generational sin issues and sin patterns that need to be dealt with.

You must ask The Holy Spirit to reveal any ancient history in your ancestry The LORD may be pointing to.

Recently in a Dream I saw many people running, trying to get up higher on the mountain, but we all had to dodge these boulders that were hurled at us from some unseen force, like from a catapult, but they were coming from the other mountains.

This suggests there will be opposition to getting to higher ground. We can only go higher with God by going lower, through humility and repentance.

We cannot magnify Christ unless we are willing to humble ourselves.

Nehemiah 2:14 speaks of the challenge Nehemiah faced just trying to get into the city to observe all the damage.

The verse says, “There was no room for the animal under me to pass.” There was so much rubble and heaps of stones, the horses and mules couldn’t even walk over them.

So, how does this spiritually apply to us? His passage was obstructed due to the many impediments.

Another word for impediments is stones. Sometimes we have things internally that blocks the flow of The Holy Spirit.

We have a stubborn enemy that rises up and says, “I’m not letting The Holy Spirit do a deeper work. I’m okay the way I am. All my sins are under grace and forgiven. I don’t really need to change.”

And that would be a lie that comes from pride and stubbornness, which are evident of a demonic stronghold.

Because, God is all about developing the reflection of Christ in us. The Holy Spirit lives within us to assist us in the work of purity. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to change to those that are humble.

Isaiah 35:8 speaks of a highway of holiness to The LORD.

“A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray.” Isaiah 35:8

Isaiah 57:14 is another verse that says,

“Build up, build up, prepare the way. Remove every obstacle out of the way of my people.” Isaiah 57:14

There were stones of offense and stumbling blocks that needed to be removed.

Romans 14:13 says,

“Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way.” Romans 14:13

Mountains can represent obstacles, hindrances, impediments and difficulties. They can symbolize opposing forces or barriers that not only challenge our Faith, but things we must overcome in order to enter God’s greater measure of our own restoration, which allows advancement for the sake of The Kingdom.

Mountains also represent men. Mountains can be metaphors to symbolize individuals or groups of people who possess authority, position, influence or prominence.

Kings — people with position, power and influence — are Gatekeepers. They can either open doors or close doors. They can be gateways to assistance, resources and destiny connections, or they can be locked gates that refuse to help those that need it. Kings are in a position of power to be a blessing to others.

Mountains are known for their strength, longevity and stability – they are literally impossible to move in our own strength.

That is why we require grace to help us move what only God can move out of the way. When Jesus speaks of mountains being moved, in Matthew 17:20, he is deliberately speaking about what is humanly impossible, but can be overcome through faith and obedience.

When the mountain is within us, the only thing that will remove it is humility, repentance and renouncing the agreement that was made with the wrong beliefs or behaviors.

When the mountain is outside of us, the thing that helps move them out of the way are decrees utilizing the word of God.

BUT, you can’t move the mountains outside of you UNTIL you remove the mountains within you, because internal mountains give the enemy leverage over you.

He has legal grounds to resist you. We need to be able to discern when a mountain is growing inside of us that isn’t from God.

2 Chronicles 7:14 is a verse that many people can recite off the top of their head because it is so well known, but it is God telling His people — not the lost or the unsaved — that we are the ones that need to adjust our ways and repent if we want to receive the greater measure of our restoration.

God is showing us a key to breakthrough is humility. Yet, so often we are blind to our own blind spots.

e don’t see ourselves the way The LORD sees us, and we excuse things or justify behaviors within ourselves that The LORD wants to uproot.

Maybe it’s unforgiveness….

Perhaps it is an accusation, or a wrong judgement you’ve made towards God and you aren’t even aware of it, but God sees it.

Have you said in your heart, “God, it’s not fair…?” “God, why didn’t you turn that situation with a better outcome?” “Why did that have to happen?”

A sense of injustice can cause a person to make a wrong judgement, but until we make it right with God, we are lined up with the accuser and rebellion and God can’t bless that.

Sometimes the things God wants to uproot are attitudes, judgments, or criticisms against others. Perhaps there is a need to repent for negative words spoken about others.

Those are the stones of offense, things we stumble over, impediments that make it difficult to walk on the highway to holiness.

Sometimes it’s the grace or blessings that come to others that we feel are undeserved. Don’t stumble over the grace that God makes available to those you don’t care for.

Let go of your judgments and criticisms and Repent.

Those things can actually hang as a judgment against us in The Spirit, and it gives Satan, the accuser, legal grounds to withstand your prayers.

Those are words that must be condemned and assignments broken by putting them under the blood of Jesus.

Sometimes, God will put the anointing and the answers you need in someone you have rejected or a person you don’t even care for, because humbling yourself and repenting for those things is the key to your healing and restoration.

It might be a stronghold in our thinking where we are entertaining a lie and we aren’t even aware of it.

Sometimes the thing we’ve made an idol of is pain, disappointment, hurt, or resentment, and we don’t know who we are without the bitterness and self-pity, but it has stopped your spiritual growth.

You can’t make spiritual progress until those things are removed.

Maybe the thing God wants to uproot is the desire for self-importance, striving for recognition and validation – symbolic of an orphan spirit at work fueled by selfish ambition.

Perhaps there is another area rooted in pride that God wants to show you so you can repent, because His love and desire to grant you mercy will always triumph over a desire for judgment. But you won’t know unless you ask Him to reveal it to you.

There are three significant dreams God has given me over the last 6 months or so, and each one of them represented attitudes of different churches.

This is symbolic of attitudes in The Body of Christ that God is dealing with. The first Dream had a theme of disdain for God’s prophets and deliverers, and an independent attitude that said, “I just want someone else to clean up my mess without taking any personal responsibility for it. I won’t own it. Neither will I humble myself to receive the help that I need.”

The second Dream dealt with things The Holy Spirit wanted to dislodge and remove, but the people were standing around casually ignoring the problem and having a dismissive attitude towards healing the heart of The Church.

The third Dream represented the hidden, secret sins of gossip, slander and character assassination which The LORD said in Matthew 5 is the equivalent of murder.

The evidence had been secretly buried but was growing up inside the life of the tree, which was also inside The Church.

You may think that your casual attitude towards these things is covered under Grace — but I’m telling you — God is dealing with these things and you need to get on the right side of it quickly!

Listen, we have heard many prophetic voices over the last several years say that God will be coming as a judge.

He’s coming to mete out justice. Well, that time is now, and He is coming close to examine our hearts. He’s a wise master builder, and he’s dropping a plumb line to see if our foundation has cracks in it. If you have lost The Fear of The LORD and you think you can live how you want without being accountable to God, it’s time to repent before He is forced to step in and deal with the things you’ve tried to avoid.

The Cross symbolizes Transformation. The clothes of our old life and identity are removed and replaced with fresh, clean garments.

Our old nature died and our new nature gradually emerges as we agree to crucify our flesh. This is an ongoing process of sanctification and purification as we partner with The Holy Spirit.

The work of The Holy Spirit changes our character and conduct to the degree that we cooperate with His processes. He saves us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. (Titus 3:4-7)

“…A man’s heart is the proudest when his downfall is nearest, for he won’t see glory until The LORD sees humility. Listen before you speak, for to speak before you’ve heard the facts will bring humiliation.”

“But then something happened: God our Savior and His overpowering love and kindness for humankind entered our world; He came to save us. It’s not that we earned it by doing good works or righteous deeds; He came because He is merciful. He brought us out of our old ways of living to a new beginning through the washing of regeneration; and He made us completely new through the Holy Spirit, who was poured out in abundance through Jesus the Anointed, our Savior. All of this happened so that through His grace we would be accepted into God’s covenant family and appointed to be His heirs, full of the hope that comes from knowing you have eternal life.” Titus 3:4-7 The Voice Translation

In every relationship we have, the Cross should be a bridge between us. The Cross should be between us and God, and us and others.

But these things that I mentioned, they get between us and our relationship with The LORD. They are stumbling blocks, barriers, and hindrances that block the grace of God and are there by the enemy’s design to frustrate the rebuilding and restoration process he has with your house, and your family.

These things will hinder your ministry. These stumbling blocks get between us and others, so we can’t love God or others, better.

Judgements, negative emotions, ambition, pride — all displace or obscure the work of the Cross. They become barriers to trust, intimacy, and love.

We don’t even stop to consider the fact that if we aren’t careful, those things can subtly become a form of idolatry, because we focus our attention on them, and it comes between us and God.

There are many things that can escape our ability to detect it within ourselves, but they can be things God wants to pull out of us because they limit our ability to love others better and they will end up choking out the flow of The Holy Spirit in your life and ministry.

These things have no eternal value. These are just some of the few examples of enemies that resist the work of The Kingdom, and they hide in the secret places of our heart and soul.

They don’t want you to find them, because they don’t want you to put your foot down on the neck of your enemy.

Prayer

“Heavenly Father, forgive me for losing the fear of The LORD, and for any stumbling block I have allowed to take root in my life.

Forgive me for having a casual, dismissive attitude towards the things that you want to address in my life.

I pray that all my ways are pleasing to you.

Forgive me for critical, judgmental thoughts and for carelessly speaking things about others.

I condemn every negative word and ask that you help cancel any assignment the enemy has been enforcing against the livelihood, destiny, identity and ministry of others as well as my own.

Let every word curse be broken now and The Blood of Jesus applied to every sin.

Father, forgive me for resisting your deliverance and those you sent into my life to help me.

Forgive me for not honoring those with the gifts and anointing you made available to me.

Help me embrace humility that will open the door to my freedom and healing, and show me what I am to do.

Show me clearly something in me that you want to bring to my attention so that I can repent.

Reveal any blind spot in me that the enemy is exploiting to hinder my spiritual progress.

Show me the revelation that will move the mountain out of my way.

Give me the words to pray that is the very prayer that will please your heart.

In Jesus’ Name, amen.”

 

~ Laura Gagnon

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Laura Gagnon is a woman who has been blessed with the gift of understanding God’s restorative work through her own personal experience. Through her insights and revelation, God has led her to influence many individuals into a restored relationship with Jesus Christ. She is a woman who stands on the promises of God, encouraging others in an elevated expectation of the miraculous and declares the gift of His life. Laura is the author of Healing the Heart of a Woman and writes for her blog, Beyond the Barriers.

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