Green Pastures By Pastor T. O. Banso 

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Mountains and hills are two different things but graphically they convey the same idea. The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary defines a mountain as “ a very high hill” The same Dictionary defines a hill as “an area of land higher than the land around it but not as high as a mountain.” So you can see the difference between the two essentially in terms of height.

But though the Dictionary tries to differentiate between the two, many times in the Bible, mountains and hills are used separately and also together to convey the same idea.

There are mountains and hills that have existed for uncountable number of years. Mountains and hills can either represent protection, security, promotion on one hand or problems, barriers, obstacles etc on the other hand.

For instance in Gen 14:10, the Bible says, “As it happened, the valley of the Dead Sea was filled with tar pits. And as the army of the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into the tar pits, while the rest escaped into the mountains” Those mountains were a place of refuge, protection, safety for them.  Psalm 11:1 speaks of flying like a bird to the mountains for safety.

Psalm 30:7 shows mountain in the same light “Your favor, O Lord, made me as secure as a mountain. Then you turned away from me, and I was shattered” (NLT) Rehab told the spies to run to the mountains for safety. “‘Escape to the hill country,’ she told them. ‘Hide there for three days from the men searching for you. Then, when they have returned, you can go on your way.’” (Joshua 2:16 NLT)

The mountains that surrounded Jerusalem were considered in the Old Testament a source of physical protection in addition to the divine protection the people of Israel enjoyed. Psalm 125:2 says, “Just as the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, both now and forever” (NLT)

There are several Scriptures showing mountains as representing protection and security but the Bible also gives us a contrary image of maintains.  Mountains and hills represent problems, obstacles, barriers etc.

These are what mountains and hills could be physically, and what they are spiritually too. Many people have been hindered from moving forward in life due to mountains and hills that are confronting them in the form of problems, obstacles and barriers in different shapes and in different departments of their lives.

Mountains and hills in a negative sense is a hindrance, preventing a person from seeing what is on the other side and going to the other side to enjoy what is waiting on the other side. It is even worse if these mountains are everlasting and the hills are perpetual. Recently in a prayer session the Spirit of God directed our attention to “everlasting mountains and perpetual hills” These two mean the same in the real sense of it, though as we have seen from the dictionary definition, a mountain and a hill have different features. 

Spiritually speaking, there are problems in the lives of people that can be regarded as mountains and hills. Even if we try to differentiate between the two and classify some problems as mountains and some as hills neither is good in a man’s life. With mountains or hills in a man’s life, he is not going anywhere. A hill is as bad as a mountain if one cannot overcome either and move forward in life. But sad enough, this is the condition of many today; this is what the devil has done to them. They are confronting mountains and hills. But not just ordinary mountains and hills, they are confronting everlasting mountains and perpetual hills. That is, these mountains and hills are older than them; they predate their birth. They have been in existence for years. They are rooted in their ancestral line. These mountains and hills have to their credit several victims in the ancestral lines of men and women they have stopped. And those everlasting mountains and perpetual hills are boasting of their continuous operations, victimization and oppression of their captives in infinity.

With everlasting mountains and perpetual hills, progress and promotion will be stagnated. Such captives will keep marking time, going round in circles. It takes God’s power to overcome such protracted quandary as the children of Israel found themselves in Deut 2:3 compassing the mountain and not moving forward.  

Only the power of God can deliver a man or a woman from everlasting mountains and perpetual hills that wasted the lives and destines of family members from the past generations to the present generation of fathers and mothers and are already at work in the lives and destinies of the young ones to make them repeat the failures of their ancestors.  

Victory will not come by obtaining university education, getting advance degrees, securing top flight jobs, being diligent at work, traveling abroad etc. Until and unless the everlasting mountains and perpetual hills are destroyed all these laudable human efforts will not amount to much, in fact their outcome will only be eternal frustration.

We must not be ignorant of the devices of the devil; we must not allow him to outsmart us. (2 Corinthians 2:11) The devil will prefer that we confront spiritual problems with carnal remedies. He will prefer that will treat spiritual ailments with physical therapy yet the Bible says we are not fighting against flesh and blood but against principality and powers. (Ephesians 6:12) I’ll stop here today and continue next week. 

If you are not born again take the following steps:*Admit you’re a sinner and you can’t save yourself and repent of your sins. *Confess Jesus as your Saviour and Lord. *Renounce your past way of life – your relationship with the devil and his works. *Invite Jesus into your life. *As a mark of seriousness to mature in the faith, start to attend a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching church. There, you will be taught how to grow in the Lord and become a true disciple of Jesus Christ.

Kindly say this prayer now: “0 Lord God, I come unto you today. I know I am a sinner and I cannot save myself. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross to save me and resurrected the third day. I confess Jesus as my Savior and my Lord and surrender my life to him today. I invite Jesus into my heart today. By this prayer, I know I am saved. Thank you Jesus for saving me and making me a child of God” 

I congratulate you if you have said that prayer sincerely. You are now a child of God. May you flourish like the palm tree and grow like the cedar of Lebanon. May you grow into Christ in all things becoming all God wants you to be. I will be glad to hear from you. May the Lord be with you.