poolsandpastures
Thoughts on the Gospel, Life, and Ministry
The NT365 Experiment: Mark 11
Throughout my life and ministry I have heard many Christians talk about the importance of prayer in their daily lives. They tell me that prayer is an essential component to their daily routine, that it gives them perspective for the day, that it gives them strength and comfort, that it encourages their soul to know that the sovereign God of Heaven is listening to them when they speak to him. I couldn’t agree with them more, and I imagine you couldn’t either. There is something special about being able to interact with the sovereign, covenanting God while he sits on his everlasting throne and know that he has promised to act according our faith-filled requests. It is a beautiful thing!
Prayer is an act of faith in a powerful God (Mark 11:12-14, 20-26).
After the disciples (at Peter’s leading) noticed the withered fig tree and remarked on it (11:20), the first thing Jesus said to them was, “Have faith in God.” In this short statement, Jesus emphasized the work and power of God above everything else in prayer. The disciples were amazed at the sight of the withered fig tree because the curse Jesus had placed upon it had come true (8:14). It was withered. It was done producing fruit. (I can only imagine what my response would have been.) How could this possibly be? God did it, that’s how! He does the impossible. When we come to him in prayer, we come to the one who has the power to do whatever he chooses, even power to pick up mountains and throw them into the heart of the sea.
Also, by emphasizing the power of God to accomplish great and amazing things, Jesus deemphasized the work or the “measure” of the faith of the prayer. Many people would argue that effective prayer is directly tied to the “measure” of faith the prayer possesses. In other words, the more faith a prayer has, the more faithful God is going to be to answer those prayers in big and powerful ways. Perhaps you’ve heard it said like this, “If you would just have MORE faith, then God would hear your prayers MORE and answer them accordingly.” That’s not what Jesus teaches here or anywhere else. The faithfulness of God to answer the prayers of his people depends upon his grace, goodness, and will. Our encouragement to pray, then, is found in the fact that God has promised these things to us and in our faith in him to do what he has promised. The amount of faith is not the key because it is not the cause of great and awesome things. The cause of those things is the power of God. Therefore, the faith of a mustard seed can uproot and replant a mulberry tree in the sea (Luke 17:6).
Prayer and You
Is your prayer life empowered by this kind of faith — faith in the sovereign, powerful God to do awesome and impossible things according to his grace, goodness, and will? This kind of faith is dependent faith. It is faith that rests in the power and work of God. It is not faith that places the effectiveness of prayer in its own strength. It is faith that recognizes its inability and weakness and trusts in the powerful God of Heaven to do the impossible. This kind of prayer changes lives and will change the world. E.M. Bounds said it this way:
“Men and women are needed whose prayers will give to the world the utmost power of God; who will make His promises to blossom with rich and full results. God is waiting to hear us and challenges us to bring Him to do this thing by our praying.”
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