Written ~ 02-22-2024
Read Mark Chapter Eleven
Mark 11
As Jesus and the disciples were leaving the city of Bethany they came across a fig tree, because the tree had no fruit on it and Jesus was hungry, He cursed the tree. Even though the disciples witnessed what had happened, they said nothing, nothing until the next day when they passed by the tree when leaving Jerusalem.
Verse 11:21,
21 Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the tree on the previous day and exclaimed, “Look, Rabbi! The fig tree you cursed has withered and died!”
Even though the disciples had been with Jesus for some time now, it still surprised them when something unusual happened, this time it was the withering of a fig tree. So, Jesus took this opportunity for a lesson about faith, belief, doubt and forgiveness.
These next few verses are quite powerful. I think the disciples would have been stunned, maybe even a bit perplexed as they listened to Jesus speak.
Look at verses 11:22-25, what do these verses mean to you?
22 Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. 23 I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. 24 I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. 25 But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.”
The disciples had seen all that Jesus had done up to this point, the healing of the sick, the casting out of demons, making the blind, see… the lame, walk… and the deaf, hear… feeding 5000 people with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish. They even saw Jesus walk on water! But maybe this was all too much for them. Now Jesus was telling them they could say to a mountain to be lifted up and have it thrown into the sea. That would have been astonishing! Do you think sometimes it’s easy for us to read something like this, just nod our heads in agreement then move on? For me, I can just imagine the disciples shaking their heads in confusion and amazement! They couldn’t fathom doing something like that. But Jesus is saying it can be done.
Now, let’s think about this for a moment… from what I have studied and read, saying to a mountain “…may you be lifted up and be thrown into the sea,” was an example given to us figuratively. The very first thing Jesus said was, “Have faith in God.” That means when we come against a situation far greater than what we can handle on our own, we must seek help from the Lord God Almighty, because that’s where all power and strength comes from. Our faith in the Lord, our trust in the Lord… knowing that it is through Him alone that our mountain of troubles can be moved and thrown aside. That is the point Jesus is trying to get across.
When we go to the Lord with our long list of problems, whether it’s physical sickness, mental distress or any circumstance that is completely out of our control, do we believe it can be taken care of?
Verses 11:23b-24,
23b “But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. 24 I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.”
How many of us stumble across this verse and have doubt in our hearts that what we are going through can actually be taken care of. Maybe we don’t have the courage to ask the Lord for help, because we are fearful of the answer. Read this part of verse 11:24 again, “…if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours…” Is that where we can fall short? Are we bringing our requests to God, with doubt in our hearts that He is Able? In Mark 9:24, we read of a man who was struggling with his belief, so he asked the Lord, to help him with his unbelief, “…I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” If you and I are struggling with the belief that God can help us through our troubling circumstances, we may need to start our prayer with the acknowledgement of that struggle. I love where that man asked for help, he said, “…help me overcome…” Here are some synonyms of the word “overcome” – beat, defeat, prevail over, win against, triumph over, conquer. So, when Jesus says, “…you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart…” That means we must overcome that unbelief! Allowing doubt to creep in and take over will leave us disappointed and defeated. Wouldn’t it be marvelous, think about it, to be completely free of unbelief, doubt and fear, that is something we can obtain!
Maybe that should be our very first prayer of faith – here’s an example…
“Lord Jesus, You have told me if I pray for anything, and if I believe I have received it; it will be mine. Well, this is my heartfelt prayer that I would be filled with unwavering belief and that doubt would be completely eradicated from my heart, mind and soul and that any fear of not receiving the answer I wanted, would be thoroughly removed. Thank You Jesus for hearing this prayer and making it so.”
Our lesson from Jesus isn’t over yet, look at what He includes in verse 11:25,
25 But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.”
When we finish reading verse 11:24, the subject matter in verse 11:25 seems like a very abrupt change. Why do you think Jesus included this? What we need to understand is that in prayer, we come to the Lord, I would say most of the time, with requests for things we want done. But if we come to the Lord asking for “mountains” to be removed from our lives and don’t have a spirit of forgiveness for others, how can God honor our requests? It isn’t enough to have a heart full of belief and faith when we are harboring any kind of bitterness, anger, disappointment or unforgiveness. We need to ask God to remove those things from our hearts. It might even be that we need to go to that person or persons and ask for forgiveness. If someone has wronged you, it’s imperative that complete forgiveness takes place in your heart. If we are holding anything over someone else, even if we think they “deserve it,” we must remove that type of attitude immediately. Verse 11:25 says, we must first forgive, so that our Father in Heaven will forgive us! This is not something we should just skim over, no, this is important. Jesus is talking about faith, doubt, belief and forgiveness in one lesson. We can’t pick and choose which attribute we want to pursue and have our prayers answered in the way we think they should. If we are not praying in the will of God, or if we can’t release unforgiveness, it is not God who is “at fault” that our prayers cannot be answered in the way we desire. Sometimes we try to sidestep our responsibility in prayer and continue to ask for the Lord’s help in removing our difficulties and not first do what He is asking of us.
These three verses have an incredible lesson packed into each verse. And! This entire lesson came out of Peter’s response to the fig tree being cursed by Jesus!
So… what is your mountain?
What could be hindering your belief?
What could be causing doubt?
Who might it be that you have not forgiven?
Go to the Lord with these things, ask for help to overcome fear, doubt and unbelief.
Lord God, I do not want to come to You with any unforgiveness, fear and doubt in my heart. Please help me overcome each of those things so I can come to You with a pure heart. When I lay down my requests before You, I want to believe I have received it.
~AMEN~
Amen!!!! 24) I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.” Received it…. past tense. I already have the answer to my prayer. He finished the work on the cross. My prayer is to agree with what He has already accomplished for me. This goes along with “Praying Grace” by David A. Holland (TBN)
Awesome Sarah! I love that!!