Pray, Believe, Receive

“Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.  And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”  Matthew 21:21-22

Jesus and His disciples were returning to Jerusalem from Bethany, and Jesus was hungry.  He saw a fig tree by the roadside and walking over to it, He found that there were no figs on it.  The tree from a distance promised fruit, but upon closer examination it turned out to be untrue to its purpose.  For that reason, Jesus cursed it.  It immediately shriveled up becoming useless.  Now before you feel sorry for the fig tree, Jesus did not curse it because He was angry at it, but because it served as a symbol of His judgment upon Israel for their hypocrisy.  God’s chosen people looked good on the outside, but they were spiritually barren.  God had entrusted them with His Redeemer, yet they chose to reject Him.

The curse of the fig tree served as a warning of God’s judgment upon Israel, but it seems that the disciples were more interested in the speed by which the tree dried up.  After spending the last three years with Jesus, watching Him perform miracle after miracle, the disciples were still amazed at His power over nature.  Jesus used this opportunity to give them a lesson on faith.  He told them if they had faith and did not doubt, then they could also do to the fig tree what He had done to it, and not only that, but they could say to a nearby mountain, most likely the Mount of Olives, for it to move into the sea, and it would happen.  He told them that whatever they asked in prayer, if they believed, they would receive their desire.  We need to remember that Jesus was speaking to His disciples to whom He had previously given supernatural powers to cast out unclean spirits and to heal sicknesses (Matthew 10:1).  These privileges would greatly be manifested by them after Jesus’ ascension back to His Father as they traveled and spread the gospel.

Jesus had been preparing them and teaching them to carry on His ministry after He returned to heaven, but they didn’t yet understand the ramifications of all they were being taught.  Jesus told them that they had the power to curse the fig tree just like He did, but they had to do it in faith without doubting.  James wrote in James 1:6-8 that doubting is like being a “wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed”.  It is like asking God for something and then not believing Him for it.  One might as well not even ask.  As far as moving the mountain goes, many commentators believe that this was a proverbial expression with the mountain representing obstacles that the disciples would face later on but would have the faith necessary to overcome those obstacles as long as they did not doubt the power of God within them.  We know that Jesus used hyperbole on several occasions, but, if this statement is to be taken literally, God could move a mountain into the sea using His power through the faith of an undoubting believer.  However, doubt seems to always be lurking in the background of most believers.  A “reasonable doubt” is difficult to overcome because we are human.

Did Jesus make this promise to all believers or just to His twelve disciples?  They were the only ones with Jesus at that particular hour.  Jesus made similar statements directed to His disciples in John 14:13-14 and John 15:7.   Did Jesus intend for His words to go no further than His twelve disciples?  No, of course not.  If the promise of answered prayer were only for the twelve, then why would all other believers even bother to pray?  What good would faith be if one could not exercise it through prayer?  How could a lost person ever be saved if the promise of answered prayer were only made to these twelve men?  I believe that God intended for all people to have the opportunity to pray and receive an answer.  However, there are qualifications to receiving whatsoever one may ask for in prayer.  We must believe we shall receive it (Matthew 21:22), we must abide in Christ (John 15:7), and we must ask in Jesus’ name (John 14:13).  If we have a close, intimate relationship with Jesus, then we will not insult Him by asking for selfish desires.

One of my former pastors said that when he and his brother wanted something from their Dad, their desire had to be reasonable and beneficial to them, and if so, they would most likely get it.  Anything of a selfish or hurtful nature was an automatic “No”.  Sometimes we ask God for things that in the long run may do us either harm or misery.  God says, “No”, and then later on, down the road, we are thankful that He did not give us what we thought we had to have.  God always knows what’s best for us and answers our prayers accordingly.  As Jesus said, “Not My will, but Thine be done” (Luke 22:42).