“Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry. And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again. And His disciples heard it.” vs 20 Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.” So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” Mk 11:12-14; 20-24  

Most people approach this portion of scripture with regards to Israel or Christians not having fruit in their lives. I would like to look at it from a faith perspective.

The fig tree that Jesus cursed died from the roots up. When the disciples heard Jesus curse the tree they saw no evidence by sight of anything different happening to the tree. After returning from Jerusalem the next day, Peter said, Master look! The fig tree you cursed withered away. Peter could now see with his natural eyes the effects of Jesus’ words to the fig tree that were spoken the day before.

Jesus spoke His Word and immediately the fig tree’s roots began to dry up. This process first took place underground where the disciples could not see and within a day had spread to the tree trunk and branches where it now became visible for all to see.

I believe Jesus was teaching his disciples a spiritual principle using the fig tree as an example. Jesus spoke to the fig tree yet nothing changed by appearance, however in reality, the trees roots had already begun to dry up. Tree roots are underground below where the physical eye can see. Our spirit man is also concealed, hidden from us by the veil of our flesh. We hinder our understanding to see into the spiritual realm by wholly relying on that which we perceive by our five senses. Rather, we are admonished to “walk by faith not by sight” 2Cor 5:7.

God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (Jn 4:24). When God moves it is in the spiritual realm within our spirit man. He has provided for our every need, whether or not we see what He has done in the spiritual realm manifest in the physical does not discount the truth of God’s Word, its still true. We are instructed to “have faith in God” and to “believe whatever things we ask for in prayer”; because our faith pleases God and counts for all eternity (1Cor 13:13).

When we ask in prayer for something, God our Father desires to move freely to give an answer in our spirits. Many times we have a promise, conviction or assurance that He has imparted. When God moves in our hearts, we need to possess our answer by faith. We co-labor with Him to fulfill His expressed purpose; we become responsible vessels to convert His Word into a physical reality through our actions. That is not to say that we are the one who produced the answer by our own power. It is God who works miracles and without Him we can do nothing, but we get to cooperate with Him by faith as joint heirs together with Christ. Ephesians 3:20 reads  “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us“ God’s power is at work in us and is superabundantly able to do far beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams. Because Christ lives within us nothing is impossible for those who believe.

Jesus concluded his teaching about the fig tree by challenging his disciples to have faith in God and speak words of faith that “whosoever says unto their mountain be thou removed and doubt not in your heart, he shall have whatsoever he saith” Mark 11:23. Jesus then taught them how to pray in faith. V 24 reads, “Whatever things you ask for, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.” We often minimize the accomplishment of the Cross, pleading with God to move in our situation when our problem lies in our receiving all that He has provided for. Let us start praising Him for His fulfillment of our prayer and we will see mighty manifestations become our reality.  It may take another day for the answer to manifest in our physical realm. It may even take one month or one year or ten years, as it did for Abraham, Joseph, Daniel, the woman with the issue of blood and many other people of faith in the Bible. We mustn’t doubt or waiver in our belief that God has already answered our prayer. We remain steadfast, bold and immoveable on the promise of God. The time that it takes for God’s answer to be manifest in the physical may be hindered by our unbelief, forces of evil, or even a greater work of God in process.  

I love these truths and am growing in them daily. Glennis and I are speaking words of life unto my body, utterly dependent on the creative, powerful authority of the Word of God to restore and redeem. We are denouncing the influence ALS has in our lives and commanding it to leave in Jesus’ name! It has been 12 years now with this illness but I am determined to continue to believe GOD for a total healing manifestation despite what I see or how I feel.  

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 6th, 2008 at 10:45 pm and is filed under Devotionals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.