The True Power of Prayer. (Mark 11: 12-26)
One of the big challenges facing any Christian is maintaining the habit of praying regularly. On top of that, I would also suggest that one of the big challenges facing the modern church is not only getting Christians to pray regularly, but to pray appropriately. You see there can be a use and a misuse of prayer. Buried within the passage we are going to look at today, a passage which is normally wholly interpreted as part of the Easter story narrative there is a section of scripture that is often overlooked.
It’s not necessary that people misunderstand, it they just don’t really seem notice it or grasp hold of what Jesus is really saying. This aspect is often overlooked because understandably because most churches focus on the beginning of the Story with Palm Sunday and the triumphal entry then the following Sunday focus switches rightly to the death and the resurrection of Jesus. However, as we approach this passage today it is neither Easter week or Palm Sunday, we can look at is from this fresh perspective. Sandwiches between those two great events are some teachings of Jesus that can be easily missed and sometimes even misunderstood, but hopefully not today.
The portion of this passage I would like to look at starts out with something often called the cursing of the fig tree. It then moves to Jesus being in the temple area where Jesus cleanses the temple. Then in the third part of the passage, he returns to the fig tree and explains what has just happened. So, in fact the cleansing of the temple story is sandwiched between the two episodes concerning a fig tree.
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.
(Mark 11: 12-13)
This next day mentioned is the day after the triumphal entry, Palm Sunday, but, this narrative picks up in the morning of the following day.
Jesus makes his way from the outskirts of the city to the temple area he sees a fig tree in the distance but verse 13 tells us when they come to it they find it had just leaves and no figs, but importantly the text tells us, “It was not the season for figs”. The text then points out what Jesus then says.
In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” And His disciples heard it.
(Mark 11: 14)
Now perhaps to your ears this might sound a bit odd. Why would he say that? I will get to that later when we unpack what happens when they return to this fig tree. There are all sorts of teaching about the prophetic meaning of these words in relation to the future of Israel and the church and that aspect is definitely true. However, on a straightforward level what I believe Jesus is actually talking about here is prayer. But we’ll come back to that later. In the meantime, it says he curses the fig tree and then they move on to the temple area in Jerusalem.
This large area around the temple proper was called the “court of the gentiles”. This courtyard area was where people were allowed to come and pray and meditate in a way that allowed gentiles to witness the activities of Gods people as they prepared to worship the one true God. However, the Jews of that day had turned it into a commercial enterprise. In fact, it was worse than that because their system of commerce has become a form of exploitation. Christ sees this, and he overturns the tables of the moneychangers and those selling sacrificial animals, saying , ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.”
Here do the religious authorities react to that, the same way as hierarchical organizations react today. How do organisations usually react to whistle blowers? How do people usually react when you challenge the whole basis of their financial security.
Therefore we should not be surprised to see what will happen later.
However, for now that’s the end of this part of this passage about the cleansing of the temple and the next morning we see Jesus gets up and heads out of Jerusalem towards Bethany, back the way they came. But we are now back to the fig tree, and we pick up the text at verse 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.”
(Mark 11: 20-21)
What did Peter really expect? Jesus had cursed it the previous day, what did he think would happen? So, Jesus in his answer to Peter gives a practical explanation of what has occurred. Listen to what follows.
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 these 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.
(Mark 11: 22-24)
You see the important phrase in this exchange, is “When you pray”.
The whole conversation and illustration around the fig tree is one where Jesus is talking about prayer. The point he is making is don’t just pray, but pray believing. Prayer is important he says, but the way you pray is also important. We are to pray with faith, pray believing, pray trusting not in the power of pray, but in the power of God to answer prayer. Which is a subtle difference I know but a point worth making. Pray to a God that we know, and we trust, a God who we can really believe in, a God in whom we can put are trust. If you really know the Lord, then indeed we can ask for that which in our own strength seems impossible and in our prays we can have unwavering trust in what the Lord can do.
We need to unwrap this further because within certain sections of the church this teaching is mis-represented. What I am about to say I believe is very, very, important.
How do you believe in something? Do you pull something out of the air and just believe it? In order to believe in somebody or trust somebody, they have to say or do things consistently first. Then you can choose to believe or not believe in that person by how much they say matches up with what they do. God is a person, he has personality, he has a mind, he has emotions, and he has a will. Christians don’t believe in something; Christians believe in someone.
So, in order to have faith when you pray, this pre-supposes that God has spoken to you and what you are asking for is in keeping with the will and character of God.
We are told elsewhere that faith come by hearing and hearing comes by the Word of God. So, when we pray, our prayer should be based upon what God has already said. This is nothing like as some say, that if you just pray hard enough or that if you really, really want something or believe something with passion, then God will answer that prayer. It doesn’t work that way; you just need to ask him to do the things he has already said he would do. Anything more or less than that is just faith in faith, Nothing more than something akin to the power of positive thinking, not faith in God.
That other type of faith is just emotion and feelings, and certainly not faith in the God who is revealed in the bible. You cannot just pray and believe that something will happen just because you really, really want it to happen.
Let me clarify, we know from many scriptures that we can ask the Lord for anything, right…. Right! But what does he promise to give us in response to our prayers?
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 4:6-7)
That’s the promise of God. The promise of God is that he will bring you peace. This passage says, when you pray and believe, what you get is the peace of God. When you know God, and you know his word, you can pray and ask and believe that he will give you what you ask for. So, you can ask, you can pray, and you can rely on the promise of God that he will answer according to his will and whatever he does will be what is best for you and that should absolutely grant you peace of mind. The Lord God is the object of our faith, but it is not our faith itself that supports us. Faith can never stand alone, faith is always linked to a person, a personality that you can trust. Our faith is not in the power of prayer, it is in the power of the living God who is the one who can answer our prayers.
Some people pray all the time and question why God doesn’t seem to answer their prayers. Some Christians pray and find peace and some other who pray and are discouraged or say God never answers their prayers. Some people even say they have had “Words from the Lord” or even declare “Prophecy’s” and then wonder why they don’t come to pass. What is the difference between these groups of people. The difference beloved is simply this; Some know the Word of God…. And some do not.
So, the point is, yes, we can pray believing that God can answer our prayers, but we can only do that when we know that what we are asking for is in the will of God. And we can only truly know we are acting according to his will when we are acting according to his words. Jesus then gives us one final piece of advice when praying here.
He warns us of an important thing that can stop God from answering our prayers.
“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 Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
(Mark 11: 25-26)
Is it i possible to go to God in prayer and ask him to forgive you and he won’t do that? YES IT IS. Within the context described here, yes, it is. That’s what the text says here. Jesus says, if another person has offended you and you are holding them in that place of unforgiveness, then God will not, and cannot, release you from that circle of unforgiveness. I can almost hear some of your brains churning out there. I thought you said, you always say, that if you trust Christ God will be forgiven you from all your sins…. Right.That is correct. But now you’re telling me if I don’t forgive someone or hold a grudge then God won’t forgive me. How does that work, how do we put those two things together? Ok let’s talk about this, we are really getting into the deeper things of God.
Trust Christ, and you are forgiven. (Correct full stop) Yes, all sins, past, present, and future are forgiven, absolutely. Full, judicial, forgiveness is granted at the point of salvation, completely and eternally. But there is a sense where you can still sin and be forgiven judicially and eternally but remain out of fellowship with God in those parts of your life. Remain outside the blessing of God in certain areas of your life. We can still pray about areas of our lives where we know in our hearts that we are not in full fellowship with God, areas where you have not allowed God to fully come in and deal with those things in your life. Sometimes God won’t answer the prayers in those areas but only because you are not really asking him to. And that is what this passage means.
What I believe this passage is really saying is that if you are praying with an unforgiving spirit towards anyone, you are in no position to pray and expect an answer in that area. Mainly because you won’t be willing or even know what to ask for. What this passage is teaching, I believe, is if you don’t know the word of God, you cannot know the will of God, therefore you are in a difficult position to know how to pray in a way that God is then pleased to answer. One of the lessons we all need to learn in life is not to come to our father with a request, whilst at the same time hiding disobedience behind our backs”.
Summary
Don’t lose sight of the fact that in the midst of the drama of the cleansing of the temple this whole passage is teaching that God’s house should be a house of prayer, and one of the purposes of prayer is to demonstrate the extraordinary things that God can do. I began by suggesting that there is a use and a misuse of prayer.
The proper us of prayer is.
(1) To pray always, to simply to bring all your requests, and thanksgivings to the Lord in prayer.
(2) Pray according to God’s Word.
(3) Pray believing that God will give you what He has already promised.
(4) Pray with a forgiving Spirit.
Can we mis-use prayer, is there an improper use of prayer?
(1) You don’t even bother to pray. James says, “we don’t have because we don’t even ask”.
(2) You don’t pray according to Gods Word.
(3) We pray doubting - Because we don’t really know if what we ask for is in the will of God because we don’t know what to ask for, again because we don’t know his Word.
(4) We pray with an unforgiving spirit – We pray whilst at the same time holding grudges against people. The psalmist writes, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord will not hear .”
Having clarified all that let me please make a couple of suggestions.
If you are going to pray and want it to be an answered, you have got to pray a believing prayer. (A prayer of faith) A believing prayer is trusting God to do what he says he will do. That’s very important. That doesn’t mean that there won’t be occasions when God will just look upon us with favour just because he loves us and wants to bless his children. But generally, a believing prayer of faith requires you to know the will and character of God as revealed in his scripture in order to know what to ask for. To use an analogy of Hudson Taylor said, as Captain of a boat there is no point praying for wind if you don’t have the sails hoisted. So, you have got to believe, and you have to know what you believe. You have to believe in the Word of God. You have to believe in the Will of God to give you what you really need, and you also have to believe that God can accomplish extraordinary things.
Everybody recognises that the most startling phrase in the passage is that “if you pray God can remove a mountain”. Are we really meant to believe that? What mountain is promised by God in his word that he can remove? Note the word is “remove”, not move as often misquoted. What’ the mountain in your life that God can remove and cast into the sea. The mountain is not necessarily physical, it can be, but what mountain can we pray to be removed? What is the something that we are guaranteed that God says in his word, he will remove for us. Clearly, it’s not primarily talking about physical healing because we all know sometimes people are healed and sometimes they are not.
Do you want to know what the mountain is? The good news there is more than one. Let me start with his favourite. How about an unforgiving spirit? Have you ever had a problem with somebody and felt you know what no matter how I try, and I know I am not really forgiving them. That’s a mountain, if you have tried to forgive them but couldn’t then that’s a mountain that needs to be removed. That’s the kind of mountain the Lord promises he can help us remove.
Get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
(Ephesians 4: 31-32)
If you tried to forgive someone and, in your heart, you know you haven’t that is one of those occasions when you can ask God to remove it and he will do it. I want to forgive (X) but I can’t, so I am going to ask for the grace and the power to do so. I promise you God can do that. No, I don’t promise it, God word promises it. Doesn’t that sound just like the Lord’s Prayer. Is that a block in your faith life that you can’t get around. I believe the Lord can remove it. believe it because God’s word says so. That’s one mighty big mountain, would you like to know about another.
Let me tell you about another huge mountain in our lives that a prayer of faith can irradiate. How about your tongue. Have any trouble controlling what you say. Ever say things you immediately think I wish I hadn’t said that, I wish I could take that back. In that passage I read from Ephesians, just a few verses earlier it had said, let no corrupt utterances come out of your mouth, but that which ministers grace to other people. Is that a problem for you, who doesn’t have that problem? Remember when James asked, who can tame the tongue. Is that a mountain you need to move, is that something that you try and do but can’t seem to do it on your own. Well, that’s also a prayer you can pray, and you can believe God can help you with that, because - he - says - so. I could go on and on, but I’ll stop with those two.
Finally, how about praying and asking God for something positive, is there something good we can prayer for in faith and are guaranteed to have it given to us. Yes, there is. What about asking for what is called the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Would you like more love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in your life? How about love? Would you like more love in your life? The difficulty sometimes is when God talks about love, he first talks about loving people who aren’t particularly loveable. Anyone can love a lovely person, but God can give us the grace to love someone who appears almost unlovable. We just need to ask him. How about joy. Not just joy in the sense of being happy, but the ability to be able to rejoice in all things. Joy regardless of the circumstances. We just have to ask him. I could go on forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, how about more self-control in your life. Here is my point in all.
There is a proper use of prayer, and there is an improper use of prayer. Believing prayer offered from a pure heart has unimaginable power. Power, like being able to control your tongue. Power, like being able to not just forgive people but to love people you previously really struggled with and that’s only the beginning. If we could all individually really grab hold of the proper use of prayer, we would all be personally showered with spiritual blessings.
One of my favourite quotes on prayer is by a great Christian man called A.C. Dickson, who said this.
When we depend upon organizations, we get what organizations can do; when we depend upon education, we get what education can do; when we depend upon man, we get what man can do; but when we depend upon prayer, we get what God can do.
There is a story of a minister who wore a flower in his lapel every Sunday. He never gave it much thought until one day after the service a boy who was visiting and was about 10 years old asked the pastor if he could have the carnation. The minister handed it to him and asked him why he wanted it, the boy said that his parents were divorced over a year ago and he went to live with his mother. But his mother re-married and the new husband didn’t want him around, so they sent him to go and live with his father Within a month his dad said he was too busy with his job to look after him, and now he lives with his grandmother. She now looked after him, fed him, bought him clothes, and sent him to church. So, the boy said he wanted the flower to give to his grandmother to say thank you for loving him. The minister could barely contain himself, but he said he couldn’t have the single flower because a grandmother that special should not have a single flower, she should have the whole floral display at the front of the church and give them to the boy to give to his grandmother. The boy then turned and said to the minister, WOW, I just asked for a single flower and I got this whole massive bouquet.
I believe if we really understand what prayer is about, we can ask God for a flower, but he may well give us too the whole bouquet