Early on during the week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion, we read about an interesting and somewhat strange event within the gospels that might not make a lot of sense on the surface. In many ways, this event is one time where Jesus might appear to be irrational.
Both Matthew and Mark include this event, and for our time together, let’s read what happened from Mark’s gospel. Our passage is found in Mark, chapter 11, and we will be reading from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 11, Mark tells us that:
12 The next day as Jesus was leaving Bethany, he became hungry. 13 Seeing a fig tree in leaf from far away, he went to see if it had any figs on it. But he found no figs, only leaves, because it was not the right season for figs. 14 So Jesus said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And Jesus’ followers heard him say this.
Pausing reading here, I am amazed at this event because we have no context for Jesus becoming hungry, and we find Jesus cursing a fig tree because it didn’t have figs while it wasn’t the right season for figs. It’s possible that there was something unique about this tree that meant it should have had figs on it, but nothing in our passage suggests this except that this tree was filled with leaves.
If it weren’t for what happened the following morning, it’s likely that Mark wouldn’t have included this event in his gospel.
Jumping down to verse 20, we continue reading to discover that:
20 The next morning as Jesus was passing by with his followers, they saw the fig tree dry and dead, even to the roots. 21 Peter remembered the tree and said to Jesus, “Teacher, look! The fig tree you cursed is dry and dead!”
22 Jesus answered, “Have faith in God. 23 I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, fall into the sea.’ And if you have no doubts in your mind and believe that what you say will happen, God will do it for you. 24 So I tell you to believe that you have received the things you ask for in prayer, and God will give them to you. 25 When you are praying, if you are angry with someone, forgive him so that your Father in heaven will also forgive your sins. [26 But if you don’t forgive other people, then your Father in heaven will not forgive your sins.]”
When reading about what Jesus tells His disciples the following morning, I’m inclined to believe that this whole event was orchestrated to teach the disciples about the power of faith in God. When the disciples see the withered up fig tree, they initially are amazed at how powerful Jesus is.
But this event didn’t happen to get the disciples to look up to Jesus even more. This event happened to teach the disciples that faith in God without reservations or doubts can accomplish even greater things than this.
In this event, we are challenged and instructed on how to pray. While most people look to one of the two times Jesus officially taught on prayer by giving example prayers, our passage here in Mark might be more powerful to remember.
When we pray, the first and most important thing for us to have is faith in God. Faith is simply trust multiplied exponentially. When we trust God with everything from our past, through our present, and into our future, we have faith in Him. Faith does not mean we must understand what is happening while also having all of our questions answered. On the other hand, faith also does not mean that if we understand or have answers to our questions that our faith is somehow diminished.
Contrary to popular opinion, faith does not need unanswered questions – even if there will always be unanswered questions. What faith needs is for us to remember how God has led us in the past so we are confident moving into the future with Him. Faith is built with and on a foundation of trust in God. In order to have a powerful prayer experience, we must have faith in God.
After telling the disciples that faith in God is key, Jesus also tells them that we should push away all doubts that God won’t do what we are asking Him to do. This is probably the hardest part of prayer for me personally. It is all too easy to let a little bit of doubt in that suggests that what I am praying for is not part of God’s will, or that God knows better than I do regarding whatever request I may have, and when I let doubt in, I unknowingly sabotage my prayers.
In this whole passage, the only things we find that are necessary foundations for answered prayer are faith in God, which we have already talked about, and forgiveness towards others. If we have these two foundations in place, then there should be no room for doubt in our minds. Our passage challenges us against it.
However, why might forgiveness be so important for us in our prayer life? While I cannot answer this for you, I will say that when I have been angry with someone, the anger clouds my mind and my attitude. When my mind is focused on anger, my prayers are not the same. From my own experience, anger affects my prayers and my attitude when coming before God with my requests. About the only help I can expect to receive when praying while angry is help to forgive the person I am angry with.
But with all this said, you might be asking me what about all the times you have prayed, with heartfelt faith in God, while you were not angry or doubtful, but your prayer does not appear to be answered. Aren’t those times reasons for doubt?
I have faced situations like this, and because of this, I would have to answer perhaps. However, I don’t believe that there are any truly unanswered prayers when we pray with faith, forgiveness, and no doubt.
Instead, I believe our prayers are answered the exact moment that they have left our lips. God answers prayer in four ways, and its possible we don’t see His answer because we aren’t expecting the response He gives.
The first possible response is the easy answer of “Yes”. When God answers yes, we understand that He clearly and directly was involved.
However, God can also answer our prayers with the answer of “No”. God’s answer of no might appear to be a rejection of our request, but it might be Him simply telling you that your request is not in your best interests.
While it might be easy to think that “yes” and “no” are the only possible responses, God has two other responses, and in my own life, these other responses are much more common.
The first other response God can give is the response of “Yes, but now isn’t the best time.” We might consider this response as God asking us to wait. Perhaps what we are asking is within God’s will, but we are truly not ready to receive what we are asking for. God’s goal is our salvation and us being with Him in Heaven, and I believe He will not answer a prayer in a way where our salvation is placed in jeopardy. This might be one of the hardest answers to receive, but our faith in God leads us to trust Him even when we don’t understand why at this point in our lives we are being told to wait.
The last response God can give is the response of “No, but here is something better instead”. If we are too focused on receiving only the answers we request, we might be oblivious to all the other blessings God is giving us in place of our original request. Similar to the response of “wait”, I believe God will not directly answer our requests knowing that it will place our salvation in jeopardy. Instead, God wants us with Him in Heaven forever, and that should be our ultimate goal as well.
We are called to pray with faith in God; with forgiveness in our hearts; with certainty that God loves us, that He wants to answer our prayers, and that He wants the best for us; and with the trust that He answers our prayers the moment they leave our mouth. After we pray, we should eagerly look for answers He has given and expect to see them show up in our lives when the time is right.
As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:
Seek God first and build a faith foundation of trust in Him. Be sure to pray with faith in God, without doubt, and with forgiveness in your heart, expecting to see the answers He promises to give us when we pray.
Also, always be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself. Grow your personal relationship with Jesus because the closer we are to Him, the more our will will be aligned with His will and when our lives are aligned with God, nothing will stop our prayers from being answered in powerful ways.
And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!