Have Faith in God

January 31, 2025/
The Voice of Hope
The Voice of Hope
Have Faith in God
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Mark 11:22-26

Have you ever heard of the Haystack Prayer Meeting? In 1806, Samuel Mills, a college student from Williamstown, Massachusetts, felt a burden to pray for foreign missions. Until then, mission organizations in the United States were solely dedicated to domestic work on the Western frontier and among First Nations tribes. But Mills prayed the Lord would raise men and women to take the gospel to foreign nations.

One August day, Mills assembled a small group of spiritually minded friends who prayed together outside of the campus for foreign missions. Some accounts say there was a sudden thunderstorm as they were praying, which caused the five men to take refuge under a haystack.

Afterward, they continued to gather weekly for what became known as the Haystack Prayer Meeting. In answer to their prayers, God established the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, the American Bible Society, and the United Foreign Missionary Society. Through these, the Lord sent many laborers into his ripened field.

Why was Samuel Mills moved to pray for foreign missions? What was the key to the success of these young men who gathered weekly for prayer? Why did God honor their cries for the Gospel to be preached in other parts of the world?

There may be more than one correct answer to those questions; the primary answer is faith. Their prayers were an act of faith. They believed God wanted all people to hear the Gospel and that He had the power and desire to answer their prayers for world missions.

Which brings us to our text for today, Mark 11:22-26. In this text, Jesus directly commands His disciples regarding faith and its expression in their lives. See if you can detect that expression of faith as I read the text.  

Jesus’ command to “have faith in God” provides several essential COMPONENTS of effective prayer for us to consider and implement in our lives.

The immediate context before this interaction between Jesus and the Twelve is Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree and cleansing of the Temple. On Monday morning, on the way to Jerusalem from Bethany, Jesus cursed the fig tree for its deceptive appearance—leaves but no figs. That same day, He cleansed the Court of the Gentiles in the Temple complex, driving out the livestock sellers with their merchandise and turning over the money changers’ tables. This was evidence of the fruitless religion of the day. Then, He and the Twelve retired again to Bethany.

The following day, as they made their way to Jerusalem, they saw this lone fig tree that Jesus had cursed dried from the roots upward. As they observed this phenomenon, Peter said in shock, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered away.”

That brings us to our text for today.

The First COMPONENT of Effective Prayer is,

The Object of Our Faith

In response to Peter’s professed shock at the withered fig tree, Jesus issues a simple but straightforward command. “Have faith in God.” Didn’t the disciples already have faith in God? We can answer that with “Yes, but.”

In Luke 8:25, after Jesus stilled the raging storm, He asked His fearful disciples, “Where is your faith?” In Matthew’s account of the same incident, Jesus asked, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” In Matthew 14:31, Jesus responded to Peter’s cry of fear by saying, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” These incidents and others show us the weakness of their faith.

However, I think Jesus is driving at something more profound with this statement. As indicated by His cursing of the fig tree and the cleansing of the Temple, the Jewish people were exercising belief in a works religion rather than faith in God. These events were dramatic, visible evidence of an appearance of faith but no corresponding fruit. The curse of spiritual death would spread from the religious leaders to the whole generation of unbelieving Jews.

Unfortunately, the object of their faith was their ethnicity and adherence to the Law of Moses with all its acquired traditions. In Matthew 3:9, John the Baptist warned the Pharisees, “Do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones.”

In John 9:33, in response to Jesus’ promise of freedom, the Jews said to Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?” Because God had chosen them to be His people, they falsely assumed themselves to be invincible. In John 5, the religious leaders claimed to believe and follow Moses, yet they rejected Jesus, whom Moses wrote about in Deuteronomy 18:15.

It is easy to criticize both the religious leaders and the disciples, but we must carefully consider the object of our faith. We, too, say we believe in God and His Word. Yet, like them, we unwittingly place our faith in our heritage, religious practices, family background, abilities, and self-sufficiency. However, all of these will eventually fail us. God alone MUST be the object of our faith! Our religious practices and prayers will be lifeless and empty if He is not.

The Next COMPONENT of Effective Prayer is,

The Authenticity of Our Faith

We can say anything we want about our faith. But as the statement goes, “Saying so doesn’t make it so.” How, then, can we determine the authenticity of our faith or anyone else?

Jesus’ initial command to have faith in God indicates that the withering of the fig tree was in response to the will of His Father. Jesus had complete trust in God. The point was that dependent trust in God can accomplish humanly impossible things through prayer.

Look at what Jesus said next. Amen, if you say to this mountain, ‘be removed and cast into the sea,’ and you do not doubt in your heart but truly believe you will receive whatever you ask for.” Was He implying that the cursing of the fig tree was no big deal? Indeed, casting a mountain into the sea is a more significant challenge than causing a fig tree to wither!

Let’s focus on two phrases in Jesus’ statement: do not doubt but genuinely believe. Mark used the same word for doubt that James used in James 1:6: “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.” The words doubt and wavering are the same in the original language. It means to be at variance with oneself, unsettled. The picture of the sea waves clarifies the thought. Divided judgment is the opposite of continued faith. It’s like pulling petals off a daisy – “maybe He will, maybe He won’t.” It is doubting God’s nature and power.

What does it mean to believe genuinely? Genuine belief is more than an intellectual agreement with the truth. Belief or faith must result in action, or it isn’t authentic. James 2:21 and the following are instructive on this question.

“Was Abraham our father not justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works, faith was made perfect? The Scripture was fulfilled: ‘ Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. Likewise, Rahab the harlot was also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way. As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.”

But how does all this relate to prayer? Let’s continue to verse 24. “Therefore, I say to you, whatever you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

God is the source of the power to change. Moving a mountain is a universal symbol of doing something that appears impossible. Jesus presupposed that overcoming the difficulty in view was God’s sovereign will. A true disciple of Jesus would hardly pray for anything else. Jesus understood this because He never did anything outside His Father’s will, John 8:29.  

Therefore, the person praying can believe what he requests will happen because it is God’s will. He will neither doubt God’s ability to do what he requests since God can do anything nor doubt that God will grant his petition since it is God’s will. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that genuine faith is “…the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” In other words, faith sees the fulfillment of the request before it happens.

Why didn’t Mark explain what Jesus assumed: that disciples would pray for God’s will and submit to His sovereign authority to give or withhold as He sees fit? The idea that a believing disciple of Christ would want anything but God’s will to happen was absurd. Furthermore, promises to answer prayer depend on God’s sovereign control of all things. They do not allow human beings to trump God’s will.

An entire theology permeating the Christian world is based almost exclusively on this text. The Word of Faith movement teaches “name it and claim it” and includes some form of faith healing. The movement says, “All you have to do to change the external world around you is believe it and claim it, and it will be so.”

However, any statement like that which Jesus says in this text must be understood in the light of all the teachings on prayer and all the qualifications the New Testament gives about God’s listening to our prayers. If we lift this verse out of context and ignore the rest of the teaching of the New Testament, we start getting into the magical business of “name it and claim it.”

What has been your experience in prayer? How do you respond to Jesus’ teaching in this text? As disciples, we can believe that we will have what we request in prayer when we ask for God’s will to take place. Jesus said in John 14:13, “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” So, is what you are asking for going to bring glory to the Father or glory to you or someone else?

Jesus, agonizing, perspiring drops of blood in the garden of Gethsemane, pleaded with the Father that the cup may pass from Him, and the Father answered Him, and the answer was, “No.” What was Jesus’ response? Jesus replied, “If You say ‘No’ to My request, I say, “Yes,” to what You want Me to do.” That is the prayer of faith.

I take great comfort from the words of Hebrews 4:14 to 16. “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but was tempted as we are in all points, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Too often, unlike Jesus, our asking reflects our selfishness. James points this out in his epistle. “What causes quarrels, and what causes fights among you? Is it not because your passions are at war within you?You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions.” 

According to the Scriptures, we can be sure of two things when we pray with authentic faith: God will hear, and He will answer.

The Final COMPONENT of Effective Prayer is,

The Authenticity of Our Forgiveness

In the final two verses of our text, Jesus reiterates a component of prayer that He spoke about in other places: the importance of forgiveness. “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses.”

Is Jesus concerned about our posture in prayer? Is that why He said, “Whenever you stand praying?” Physical posture is not critical, although heart posture certainly is. The word carries the idea of firmness, of standing fast. My prayer is to be faith-filled, regular, and systematic. As I walk with God in the fellowship of prayer, I will know if I have unforgiveness in my heart. That unwillingness to forgive indicates a lack of faith.

In this text, Jesus’ warning focuses on a spirit of unforgiveness. When we repent and have been forgiven through the grace of God, but somebody injures or offends us, apologizes, and confesses their sin, something is wrong if we will not forgive.

Jesus told His disciples in Luke 17, “If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.” Do you remember the response of the disciples? They said, “Lord, increase our faith.” Forgiveness and faith are closely connected.

We can’t expect God’s forgiveness if we hold a grudge or want vengeance even after the person who violated us has repented. Every Christian should stand ready to forgive any offense fully and, finally, whether that offense is real or imagined if the person who violated us repents.

I find it interesting that here, Jesus highlights our having a grudge against our brother as the catalyst for seeking forgiveness. In Matthew 5, the opposite is in view; we remember that our brother has something against us. Those two encompass the whole range of offenses.

My willingness to forgive my offenders demonstrates genuine faith. I know that God could have prevented the offense from happening, but He didn’t. That proves that He has something He wants me to learn through it. Can I trust Him to work through my pain to accomplish His plan and purpose?

Is God the object of your faith? Or do you have faith in your faith or something else? Many people say they “believe” in God. They may believe He exists, but that belief has no practical expression in their daily lives.

What about the authenticity of your faith? Does it enable you to believe that what you can’t see is as real as what you can see? Or is your faith like a wave of the sea or a reed in the wind, constantly in motion? If that describes your faith, you will not receive answers to prayer.

Finally, what about the authenticity of your forgiveness? If you have genuinely experienced forgiveness from your Heavenly Father, how can you withhold forgiveness from your brother? Sometimes, I want to hold a grudge for some petty offense, and then the Holy Spirit reminds me of how much I’ve been forgiven. Focusing on my offenses against God makes the offenses of others against me seem comparatively small.

Do you want to pray effectively? Have faith in God. Then, take the components that Jesus gives in this text and implement them in your life. You will experience the power of praying faith.

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