20 In the morning, they passed by the fig tree that Jesus spoke to and it was completely withered from the roots up. 21 Peter remembered and said to him, “Teacher, look! That’s the fig tree you cursed. It’s now all shriveled up and dead.”
22 Jesus replied, “Let the faith of God be in you! 23 Listen to the truth I speak to you: If someone says to this mountain with great faith and having no doubt, ‘Mountain, be lifted up and thrown into the midst of the sea,’ and believes that what he says will happen, it will be done. 24 This is the reason I urge you to boldly believe for whatever you ask for in prayer—believe that you have received it and it will be yours. 25 And whenever you stand praying, if you find that you carry something in your heart against another person, release him and forgive him so that your Father in heaven will also release you and forgive you of your faults. 26 But if you will not release forgiveness, don’t expect your Father in heaven to release you from your misdeeds.”
27 They came again into Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the Jewish rulers—the chief priest, certain religious scholars, and the elders—approached him. They came up to him 28 and asked, “What right do you have to say and do these things? Who gave you the authority to do all this?”
29 Jesus replied, “I too have a question to ask you. If you can answer this question, then I will tell you by what power I do all these things. 30 Where did John’s authority to immerse come from? Was it from heaven or from people? Answer me now.”
31 They stepped away and debated among themselves, saying, “How should we answer this? If we say, ‘from heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Then why didn’t you respond to John and believe what he said?’ 32 But if we say, ‘from the people,’ we fear the crowds, for they’re convinced that John was God’s prophet.”
33 So they finally answered, “We don’t know.”
“Then neither will I tell you where my power comes from to do these things,” Jesus replied.
Tori's Comments:
Why do we make so many excuses in our hearts? My first instinct when I read verse 23 is that , "Sure, he said that, but he didn't MEAN it". But that's what the Bible says. The bigger question is why I'm so quick to doubt it? Faith has and will accomplish big things in the eyes of God.
Terrie's Comments:
"Let the faith of God be in you! 23 Listen to the truth I speak to you: If someone says to this mountain with great faith and having no doubt, ‘Mountain, be lifted up and thrown into the midst of the sea,’ and believes that what he says will happen, it will be done. 24 This is the reason I urge you to boldly believe for whatever you ask for in prayer—believe that you have received it and it will be yours."
How often do we wait for confident assurance in God arise before praying? Faith comes from hearing the Word of God. If we spend time in the word of God and expect the Holy Spirit to speak to us through His word, faith will be the natural bi-product. Once faith arises through our time spent in the Word, we can then pray a prayer with great faith and having no doubt.
Many times this is not what happens. We pray from a place of fear, uncertainty, and we aren't sure if God will even answer our prayer. When faith arises through time in the Word, we will have the Holy Spirit confirming the word inside of us. The natural result is praying with confident assurance, believing that we have received what we have asked for.
I encourage you to be in the Word. Faith will arise from within and soon you will be able to boldly believe for whatever you ask for in prayer, believing that you have received what you have asked for! The enemy would love you to believe otherwise. To believe that we need to still approach the throne trembling. Jesus made a way for us to approach the throne of grace with bold confidence. We don't need to fear anymore. God is on our side.
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