Skip to main content

234. One More Lesson from the Withered Tree

Matthew 21:20-22, Mark 11:20-26
Key Verse: “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
Matthew 21:22

Wow! That sounds good. All I have to do is believe and God will give me whatever I want? I can throw mountains around and curse stuff that I don’t like and maybe get a million dollars and…well; that’s what it sounds like Jesus is saying here. Right?  Well, we might think that’d be nice for us, but let’s take a closer look.

We're back at the olive tree again and the first time we visited this tree we talked about how God is sovereign and has the right to do what he wants with his creation. Now Jesus is using this same tree to teach another lesson about faith and prayer.

 We call it the “name it, claim it,” gospel today. People who follow this teaching find it easy to be able to tell who really has faith and who doesn’t. If you aren’t getting what you pray for, or if you’re still suffering in some way, it’s easy to tell that it’s your fault, not God’s. You either have unconfessed sin in your life or you just don’t have enough faith. Oh, how we hurt other people with these accusations that are often not true.

You see, prayer is like a diamond with many facets. Jesus has been teaching His disciples about the many facets of prayer for the last three years as they have lived, journeyed and ministered together. I like to think that this conversation took place the next morning, after a night’s rest at Bethany. Whether the tree withered instantly, as in Matthew, or overnight, as in Mark, is not important. Today, with the help of the withered fig tree, Jesus takes the opportunity to teach His disciples that faith in God is amazing and that faith in God makes the amazing possible.

“Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6) It’s not enough to simply ask Him for things. When you ask, do you truly believe that you are talking to God? And, in your asking, are you thinking only about yourself? Jesus also taught on prayer, “Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33 day 102) David says it another way in Psalm 37:4: “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

In other words, faith based prayer is really about your relationship with God. Faith is not a power that we have. It is a trust in the power of God to do what brings glory to him. And of all the answered prayers in the bible, of all the miracles that Jesus did, none were for selfish reasons, but were allowed by God or designed by God to bring glory to himself. How often do we think about whether or not the request we are making will bring glory to God beyond a personal thank you?

Think about it, would it really be good for you, or for anyone for that matter to get whatever they wanted just for asking? Do you always know what is best for you? Can you see the entire picture? If, however, you have faith in God, as a child has faith in a parent, then you know that you can trust His judgment to give you what is best. Based on that relationship, if it is best for you to be able to throw a mountain into the sea, or kill a tree, as you ask, based on your loving, trusting relationship with the Father, you can have faith that it will happen.

Mark, however, adds a further instruction. “And when you stand praying if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in Heaven may forgive you your sins.” (Mark 11:25) Again, prayer and forgiveness are coupled together. Isn’t it interesting that our own unwillingness to forgive may be the roadblock to answered prayer. Once again, it’s about relationship. Remember the Greatest commandment? First it focused on Loving God the most and then it focused on loving our neighbor.  

Again, first Jesus calls us to be in right relationship with Him and then, we need to be in right relationship with our fellow man. This is another key to having our own prayers answered. Probably praying to have someone else hurt will never be in line with God’s heart and it certainly demonstrates not being in right relationship with your neighbor. But when we love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, (Matthew 5:44) we do well. We are seeking right relationship with both God and Man and desire to know Him and do His Will above all. If we truly love Him then we can trust that He will do what is best for us. Certainly, having the tree wither up and die wasn’t the best thing for the tree, but the tree became a part of God’s plan to bring glory to Himself. When we can surrender our own lives like that, by faith, we will know that all will be well.

Hymn: “O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

October 27 Save the Glaze for the Bunny

Like a coating of glaze over earthenware are fervent lips of an evil heart. A malicious man disguises himself with his lips. But in his heart, he harbors deceit. Though his speech is charming, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart. His malice may be concealed by deception, but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. If a man digs a pit, he will fall into it. If a man rolls a stone, it will roll back on him. ~Proverbs 26:23-28 For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. Even one of their own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth. T...
Post a Comment
Read more

July 16 Thick Skinned Love

Whoever covers over an offence promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. ~Proverbs 17:9 If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. ~Matthew 18:15  The end of all things is near. Therefore, be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. ~1 Peter 4:7-8  Being offended seems to be the battle cry of the day. Instead of freedom of speech, everyone has the right not to be offended. If one is offended, then one has the right to exact vengeance on the offender because, of course, the offender KNEW that he or she was being offensive and just didn’t care. Is that how you see much of society behaving today?  There seems to be all of this offending and finger pointing that just keeps growing and growing. Nothing is being resolved, just more blame that grows louder a...
Post a Comment
Read more

January 24 You’ll See, He Remembers

The wise inherit honor, but fools He holds up to shame. ~Proverbs 3:35 “Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds.” ~Isaiah 3:10 “God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them. We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.” ~Hebrews 6:10-12 “The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them. The sins of others trail behind them. In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not cannot be hidden.” ~1 Timothy 5:24-25 “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” ~Matthew 12:36-3...
Post a Comment
Read more