As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Mark 11:20-24, ESV

This text will be the basis of this post. In case you have any doubt where I’m going with this, this is a blog study on faith, and on confessing and speaking the Word of God.  There’s power in our words, and it’s important to be confessing the right things with our mouths.

There’s this erroneous sacred cow in many Christian circles that it’s rude to teach people to have more faith than they already do. Many teach and preach that “all it takes is faith the size of a mustard seed to move mountains.” Not so. If it took faith the size of a mustard seed, we’d have all the mountains moved already. The parallel in Matthew’s Gospel–where Jesus makes the statement about one having faith like (not ”the size” of) a grain of mustard seed can move a mountain–immediately followed the incident where the disciples were unable to cast a demon out of a boy, and He told them they failed to do it because of their little faith. So likewise, this passage in Mark is NOT saying faith can be small and accomplish major things.  In a way, this entry is a continuation of the thoughts I began to unpack there, but tied into the theme as of late on the words we speak.

Notice first of all, that in Mark’s account, Jesus curses the fig tree and then keeps going on his way to the temple which He cleanses. Then, according to verse 20, they passed by it the next morning and saw the results of the word Jesus spoke. He didn’t lay a hand on it and proclaim a lightning bolt to zap it. He cursed it with His words. There’s the power of life and death in the tongue, and we can use it for blessing or cursing (James 3:9-11). This is an example of it being used for righteously cursing something.

Sometimes people’s main objection to faith for divine healing, is lack of instantaneous results, but we need to remember something: the fig tree didn’t demonstrate any outward evidence that it had been cursed and no longer bearing fruit. According to this account, it may not have been noticable until a day later. Sometimes speaking the Word of God over our circumstances doesn’t yield a noticable result right away, but in the Spirit the prayer has been answered and the outward circumstances are already in the process of changing. Maybe the cancer in that person’s body has been removed, and now the body needs normal healing to recuperate from all the damage that the stupid curse has caused. At any rate, we walk by faith and not by sight, and sometimes appearances don’t tell the whole story. Like the fig tree, the roots of a problem can be dealt with but the branches don’t look dead right away.

That leads me to my next point. Do you really think you’ll have the guts to speak to a mountain in your life if you only have a little bit of faith that your words will move that thing and cast it into the ocean? Of course not! If you’re going to speak to the mountains in your life, you better have your bathing suit on because you’re going to get wet! Most of us ARE our own problem when it comes to faith for the impossible. Most of us are ‘functional atheists.’ We give the Word of God lip service and generally have a mental ascent that certain doctrines are true, but we live our lives as though God doesn’t really do what the Word says He does. There’s many people who “believe” in divine healing, but I’d never waste my time going to them for prayer if I needed a miracle in my body because I know they already have ruled out the possibility anything will happen if they pray, and would just pray out of respect or to be nice, but not out of the place of being convinced that their prayers bear fruit. Whooops–I’m getting sidetracked.

Let’s tackle some observations I’ve made about the text. As usual, I’m reading from the ESV:

  • Jesus mentions speaking three times.
  • Jesus mentions believing/expecting/having faith three times
  • It appears that believing that what one says will come to pass is a prerequisite for it to come to pass.
  • The people who can move mountains are the ‘whoevers’. I dare to believe this applies to every believer. Are you a whoever?
  • Doubting is a pre-requisite for making sure the thing you ask doesn’t come to pass.
  • Both believing, and speaking are necessary to yield the result of the mountain being removed and cast into the sea, and not one aspect over the other.
  • Jesus mentions speaking to the mountain, and not to God about the mountain

What else do we know about faith?

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Heb 11:1) How do you have assurance for the things you’re hoping for? You find out God’s will. How do you find out God’s will? You find and meditate on passages of Scripture that deal with the specific mountain you’re speaking to. For example, if you need healing, you meditate and study Bible passages dealing with healing.  If you are having a hard time believing your needs will be met, you study passages where God promises to feed the sparrow or clothe the lilies (Matt 6:25-34), and remind yourself of what He says He will do. You give yourself assurance by knowing His Word from reading what is written in it.

As it says in 1 John 5:14-15 “And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests we have asked.”
The best way to know His will, is to read it. The Bible is His will in detail. This passage says we know we have what ask IF we’re praying according to His will.

“But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” James 1:6-8

Do you have confidence and not doubt in your heart? Faith is knowing it will happen, when you have no outward evidence to believe this from. That’s what makes it different than hope. Faith is certain, whereas hope doesn’t know for sure what will happen. Also, this part in James here should be used every time someone insists nobody needs more faith or that we all have the same amount. If I’ve heard it or been told it once, I’ve been told it a thousand times: “How can you say someone doesn’t have enough faith for something?” Easy, if they have faith for the thing, it will come to pass. BUT, faith requires perseverance. Most people have an “I-believe-God-could-do-that-and-I-hope-that-he-will“, but that’s not faith–faith requires the tenacity to keep going for it until it happens. Hope begs God to come through, not knowing if He will or not. Faith is certain that He will, with no doubting. James says if a double-minded man should not expect to receive anything from the Lord, then don’t you think the opposite of double-minded, a single-focused man will?  If faith is not faith without works (James 2:14-26) , then neither is doubt really doubt unless it is accompanied by it corresponding works (actions opposite of faith). Faith requires action, and doubt requires action in order for it to be doubt.

Pit bull faith.

I remember not long ago, I was reading in the newspaper or online something somewhere south in the USA, how a pitbull attacked a man, and the neighbors came and were beating on the dog and trying to get it to let go of this guy’s arm. It would not let up and they kept beating on it and grabbing it and trying to force it off of this guy it was attacking, but to no avail, and he was bleeding all over the place. Finally someone got a rifle and killed that dog and it still had it’s teeth sunk into the guy’s flesh!

You need to be like a pitbull in believing God and having faith for the impossible, and determine that you’re not letting go of the promises in His Word until you see them come to pass in your life. I know that sounds blasphemous to some of you. Incidentally that’s part of the reason I’m not a Calvinist (as it’s popularly taught and understood): because there’s things that are not ‘willed’ to automatically happen with no involvement–or let me use the word ‘initiative’–on our part, but we need to go for it. God has done his part and now it’s up to us to persevere and receive. Remember the PERSISTENT widow in Luke 18? The first verse says Jesus told them that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. The problem is most of us hardly ever pray, and DO lose heart.

Steve, this stuff sounds really “name it and claim it, blab it and grab it” to me.

I know. But if you want to see an example of believing in your heart and saying with your mouth and believing what you say will come to pass and then having it come to pass that you probably have already done, then remember what the Bible says in Romans 10:9-10: “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

Romans 10:9-10 is simply Mark 11:23-24 applied specifically to salvation. The human soul getting born again is the ultimate moving of a mountain! You believe, you speak, and what you believe and speak ACCORDING to God’s will, happens. God’s will is for all to be saved (2 Peter 3:9), therefore, someone coming to Him in faith, confessing with their mouth, and believing in their heart, causes them to receive what they are promised by Him to receive from having believed and confessed according to His instruction in the Word about it. You have to meet the conditions of the promise in order to receive the promise, and God would not promise you something if he had no intention of giving it to you when you meet the conditions He lays out.

God is not a respecter of persons (Acts 10:34) which means He doesn’t favor one person’s request over another or respect them more than you. God won’t withold from you something if He promises it in the Word–that’s why it’s in there, so you CAN know what He promises. “God is not a man that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken and will he not fulfill it?” (Numbers 23:19). “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17).

So all  believers and followers of Christ reading this–you have already put this principle into practice in your life by initially getting saved. It’s just that few of us speak to mountains and believe in our heart they will move when it comes to other areas of our lives. We’re afraid we’ll be selfish. We’re afraid it will work. We’re afraid we’ll go off into practicing this in weird areas of our lives like cars and big houses like some other ministers do. We’re also afraid we won’t ask for the right things or that God will say ‘no’. He won’t say no if you’re praying according to the promises in His Word. The promises of God in Him are ‘yes’ and ‘amen’ (2 Cor 1:20). If you get the answer ‘no’, then either a demon is speaking to you or you’re praying differently than what the Word of God gives you any right to believe for. If you’re praying contrary to the Word of God, and have no promise from Him to stand on, then you are in presumption or foolishness or both, and I cannot guarantee you what will happen.

That’s why constant Bible reading and meditation is important. It renews your mind so you can know what the will of God is. (Romans 12:2)

If you enjoyed this post, you may enjoy a class from our Fire For Life Summer School a couple of years ago, where I taught more on this subject:

Faith & Healing:
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