Ask in Faith

“Keep your faith up.” “If you just had a little faith.” “A little faith goes a long way.” Good morning and welcome to the Panhandle. In case you haven't figured it out we are going to be talking about faith today. I'll tell you right up front, it is easier for me to have faith in some circumstances and to lack it in others. I would love to be like the different ones that I read about who's faith was always strong. They prayed and they knew that what they prayed for was a done deal.

Today our verses are found in Matthew 21:21-22, so come on in sit a spell and let's do some Bible surfing.

²¹ Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will be able to do what I did to this tree and even more. You will be able to say to this mountain, ‘Go, fall into the sea.’ And if you have faith, it will happen. ²² If you believe, you will get anything you ask for in prayer.” (Matthew 21:21–22).

Faith in God makes great optimists. Over in Burma, Judson was lying in a foul jail with 32 lbs. of chains on his ankles, his feet bound to a bamboo pole. A fellow prisoner said, "Dr. Judson, what about the prospect of the conversion of the heathen?", with a sneer on his face. His instant reply was, "The prospects are just as bright as the promises of God." - The Presbyterian Advance.

As Christ Jesus was making His way back to the city of Jerusalem He was hungry. He saw a fig tree by the road and noticed it was covered with leaves. As He got closer, He discovered there was no fruit on the tree. Now Fig trees bear fruit first and then the leaves appear, or both appear about the same time. Since the tree was in leaf, figs should have been on it. When Christ Jesus found none, He cursed the tree and it immediately … withered. Mark in his Gospel indicated that the disciples heard Christ Jesus curse the tree, but did not notice the withered condition until they returned to Jerusalem the next morning (Mark 11:13–14, 20). The disciples marveled that the tree withered so quickly.

As the disciples observed the fig tree wither, they were so impressed with Christ Jesus’ authority over nature that they missed the meaning of His act. When the disciples comment on the withered tree, Christ Jesus didn’t go into a discourse on how the fruit missing from the tree was a representation of Israel, but instead gave the disciples a lesson on faith. Christ Jesus said that if they had genuine faith in God they not only would be able to do miracles such as cursing the tree, but they would be able to move mountains (cf. Matt. 17:20).

It should be noted that these verses do not teach, as some have suggested, that faith comes because of answered prayer. Sure, our faith may be strengthen because of answered prayer. But, we pray because we have an unwavering faith in God, look at what Daniel writes ~ 16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter.

17 "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.

18 "But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." (Daniel 3:16-18).

Because of our faith in God (Mark 11:22) we can order the mountains in our lives to move and then expects to see them move! Are our our prayers always answered the way we think they be? No. Are our prayers always answered in our time frame? No. But that shouldn't affect our faith.

There is a story about a church that bought property on an uneven hill to build a new church building. Because of this they members took a lot of ridicule from people in their community. But they kept their faith, and kept saying, “God will move our mountain so we can build our church.” Not long after their purchase a company needing a lot of dirt for a nearby building project asked if they could buy dirt from the church's hill. The church said yes and when the company was done the church had enough money to build the church dept free and a nice flat place to build on as well as road to the new church.

Here's the thing, our prayers fail because we ask and then do not have faith that God will give us what we asked. We demand to see, but faith takes without seeing and believes it has what it asked. I just finished a book about Gladys Aylward, a missionary who lived in China from 1932 to 1949 and finally settled in Taiwan in 1958. Reading her story I was constantly stuck by her faith in prayer, specific prayer.

Faith is not about how much you have or how little you have. Faith is about how much you trust God to do what He says He will do.

Thanks for dropping by and may the peace of our Lord and Saviour be poured out on you and yours. Until next time.

Biblesurfer