I. DESTRUCTION MAY SERVE THE PURPOSES OF LIFE. Here the fig tree is destroyed for the sake of a lesson to the spirit. Much lower life is destroyed from day to day that the higher may be preserved.

II. THE INCIDENT ILLUSTRATES THE RESERVE OF CHRIST'S MIRACULOUS POWER. He could destroy; that was evident. But he came not to destroy, but to save. And while he lavished his power upon the sick and suffering, to heal, cheer, and deliver, he economized the dread power of destruction. Compare what is said on this subject in 'Ecce Homo!'

III. FAITH THE ONE SECRET OF POWER. Our Lord here employs, as often, a bold figure of speech. To the undivided thought and will nothing is ideally impossible. Actually our power is limited, as is our thought. But we are born for the ideal, and to overcome our limitations. Prayer is essentially part of faith; it is the exercise of the will, the entire going-forth of the man in that direction in which he is called endlessly to exert himself.

IV. LOVE IS AN ESSENTIAL CONDITION OF TRUE FAITH. Faith works by love. How mistaken is it to limit faith to intellectual assent! Devils believe, but love not, and are weak. Faith and love are other words for the might of God in the soul. "Oh, my brothers, God exists! Believing love will relieve us of a load of care!" - will lift mountains' weight from the spirit, and make our ideals a present reality. But the unloving, unforgiving soul remains fettered in itself, unreleased, unfree, and weak. - J.

I. WHAT FAITH IS.

1. Taking God at His word, about things unknown (Hebrews 11:7), unlikely (Hebrews 11:17-19), untried (Hebrews 11:28).

2. Trusting Jesus at His invitation. Trust your soul to His care; your sins to His cleansing; your life to His keeping.

II. WHENCE FAITH COMES.

1. From God's grace (Ephesians 2:8; Romans 12:3)

2. From God's Word (Romans 10:17; 2 Timothy 3:15).

3. From God's working (1 John 5:1; Colossians 2:12).

4. Out of the heart (Romans 10:10).

III. HOW FAITH WORKS.

1. It overcomes the world (1 John 5:4).

2. It purifies the heart (Acts 15:8, 9).

3. It works by love (Galatians 5:6).

(J. Richardson, M. A.)

Many years ago, when in my country charge, I returned one afternoon from a funeral, fatigued with the day's work. After a long ride, I had accompanied the mourners to the churchyard. As I neared my stable door, I felt a strange prompting to visit a poor widow who, with her invalid daughter, lived in a lonely cottage in an outlying part of the parish. My natural reluctance to make another visit was overcome by a feeling which I could not resist, and I turned my horse's head towards the cottage. I was thinking only of the widow's spiritual needs; but, when I reached her little house, I was struck with its look of unwonted bareness and poverty. After putting a little money into her hand, I began to inquire into their circumstances, and found that their supplies had been utterly exhausted since the night before. I asked them what they had done. "I just spread it out before the Lord!" "Did you tell your case to any friend?" "Oh no, sir; nobody knows but Himself and me. I knew He wouldn't forget, though I didn't know how He would help me, till I saw you coming riding over the hill, and then I said, 'There's the Lord's answer.'" Many a time has the recollection of this incident encouraged me to trust in the loving care of my heavenly Father.

(G. Macdonald, D. D.)One winter morning, a poor little orphan boy of six or eight years begged a lady to allow him to clean away the snow from her door. "Do you get much to do, my little boy?" said the lady. "Sometimes I do," he replied, "but often I get very little." "And are you never afraid that you will not get enough to live on?" The child looked perplexed a moment, and then answered, "Don't you think God will take care of a boy if he puts his trust in Him, and does the best he can?"

Gotthold saw several sailors step into a boat to cross a river. Two took the oars, and, as usual, turned their backs upon the shore to which they intended to sail. A third stood and kept his face unaverted on the place where they wished to land, and which they very speedily reached. "See here," he said, to those about him, "what may well remind us of our condition. Life is a mighty river, rapidly flowing into the ocean of eternity, and returning no more. On this river we are all afloat in the bark of our vocation, which we must urge forward with the oars of industry and toil. Like these sailors, therefore, we ought to turn our back upon the future, put our confidence in God, who stands at the helm, and by His mighty power steers the vessel to where happiness and salvation await us, and diligently labour, unconcerned about anything else. We would smile, were these men to turn round and pretend that they could not row blindfold, but must needs see the place to which their course was directed; and it is no less foolish in us to insist on apprehending, with our anxieties and thoughts, all things, whether future or at hand. Let it be our part to ply the oar and toil and pray; but let us leave it to God to steer and bless and govern. O my God, be with me in my little bark, and bless it according to Thy good pleasure! I will turn my face to Thee, and, as Thou shalt enable me, I will diligently and faithfully labour; for all else Thou wilt provide."

A little child, whose father and mother had died, was taken into another family. The first night she asked if she might pray, as she used to do. They said, "Oh, yes." So she knelt down, and prayed as her mother had taught her; and when that was ended, she added a little prayer of her own: "O God, make these people as kind to me as father and mother were." Then she paused, and looked up, as if expecting an answer, and then added, "Of course you will." How sweetly simple was that little one's faith; she expected God to "do"; and, of course, she got her request.

An industrious tradesman had fallen on bad times; his business would not prosper, and he lost heart. His wife, however, kept cheerful; she went on praying, and tried to hearten up her husband. But it was no use; he kept on saying there was no hope for him, and he might as well go out of life, for there was nothing good to be looked for. One morning the cheery wife came down with a face as sad as her husband's. "What's the matter?" said he. "Oh," she replied, with a shudder, "I've had such a dreadful dream. I dreamt God was dead, and all the angels were going to His funeral!" "What nonsense!" said her husband. "How can you be so silly? Don't you know God can't die?" She thought a moment, and then brightened up. "That's true," she answered. "But, oh, husband! if He can't die, He can't change, either. He has taken care of us all our lives: why should we begin to think He has forgotten us now? It'll only be a passing cloud, may be, that's hiding the sun, just to try us. Let us trust Him through it all." "You're right, wife," said the man. "Seems to me I've believed in God without trusting Him. Let us ask Him to forgive me this sin of mistrust May be my ill luck has been a punishment for that same, sent to open my eyes." However that may have been, the tide did turn, and neither man nor wife ever mistrusted God again.

It is not only to faith, as a general spiritual force of boundless potency and value, that our Lord here directs our thoughts; but also, and more particularly, to the faith which sees what things are useless and ready to die, and puts them out of the way; the faith which confronts obstacles as big as solid mountains, and yet is sure that it can remove or surmount them; the faith which faints at no difficulty, no apparent impossibility even, but attacks even the greatest of them with courage and good hope. This is the faith to which Christ here invites us — the faith which He Him. self exercised, not only when He banned the fig tree, but also when He set Himself to save and raise the world against its will, and had therefore to face a world in arms. It is the faith which believes truth to be stronger than error, righteousness than unrighteousness, good than evil, even though all the world should have espoused the losing cause. It is the faith which believes not only that spiritual energies are stronger than material forces, but also that the good spiritual forces of the universe are stronger than its evil forces, and are sure to overcome them in the end. Nothing seems more doubtful to us at times than the victory of faith over the world; yet nothing is more certain. The whole history of the world is one long continuous testimony to the fact, that it is by faith in great principles that men are really swayed. What is the history of every great movement by which the world, or any portion of it, has been raised, purified, reformed, and renewed, but just this: Faith in some great truth or principle — faith in justice, faith in freedom, faith in wise laws and deep convictions — has grown to enthusiasm in a few hearts; and in the power of this faith they have spoken and toiled, facing and gradually beating down all opposition, detecting signs of decay in the most venerable and solidly established institutions, customs, statutes, and dooming them to perish; encountering whole mountains of obstacle and difficulty, yet taking them up and at last casting them into the sea.

(S. Cox, D. D.)

1. There is Christ's command itself.

2. God's own character demands this faith.

3. God's gifts claim and warrant faith.

4. The way in which we specially honour Him is by having faith in Him.

5. Unbelief profits nothing.

6. Faith has dons wonders in time past, and it can do wonders still.

(H. Bonar, D. D.)

David, Jesus, John, PeterBethany, Bethphage, Jerusalem, Mount of OlivesAnswering, Faith, God's, Saying, Says1. Jesus rides with triumph into Jerusalem;
12. curses the fruitless fig tree;
15. purges the temple;
20. exhorts his disciples to steadfastness of faith, and to forgive their enemies;
27. and defends his actions by the witness of John, who was a man sent of God.

Mark 11:20-24

     1416   miracles, nature of

Mark 11:22-23

     5776   achievement

Mark 11:22-24

     8024   faith, and blessings
     8112   certainty
     8612   prayer, and faith
     8617   prayer, effective

December 20 Evening
If the Lord would make windows in heaven might this thing be?--II KGS. 7:2. Have faith in God.--Without faith it is impossible to please God.--With God all things are possible. Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.--Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

July 24 Evening
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief.--ROM. 4:20. Have faith in God. Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.--Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

The Prayer of Faith. October 7.
With the prayer of faith we can do anything. Look at Mark xi. 24--a text that has saved more than one soul from madness in the hour of sorrow; and it is so simple and wide--wide as eternity, simple as light, true as God Himself. If we are to do great things it must be in the spirit of that text. Verily, when the Son of God cometh shall He find faith in the earth? Letters and Memories. 1843. …
Charles Kingsley—Daily Thoughts,

August 19. "Have Faith in God" (Mark xi. 22).
"Have faith in God" (Mark xi. 22). He requires of us a perfect faith, and He tells us that if we believe and doubt not, we shall have whatsoever we ask. The faintest touch of unbelief will neutralize our trust. But how shall we have such perfect faith? Is it possible for human nature? Nay, but it is possible to the Divine nature, it is possible to the Christ within us. It is possible for God to give it; and God does give it. But Christ is the Author and Finisher of our faith, and He bids us have …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

March 31. "What Things Soever Ye Desire when Ye Pray, Believe that Ye Receive them and Ye Shall have Them" (Mark xi. 24).
"What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them" (Mark xi. 24). Faith is not working up by will power a sort of certainty that something is coming to pass, but it is seeing as an actual fact that God has said that this thing shall come to pass, and that it is true, and then rejoicing to know that it is true, and just resting and entering into it because God has said it. Faith turns the promise into a prophecy. While it is merely a promise it is contingent …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

July 12. "When Ye Pray, Believe that Ye Receive" (Mark xi. 24).
"When ye pray, believe that ye receive" (Mark xi. 24). Consecration is entered by an act of faith. You are to take the gift from God, believe you have, and confess that you have it. Step out on it firmly, and let the devil know you have it as well as the Lord. When once you say to Him boldly, "I am Thine," He answers back from the heavenly heights, "Thou art Mine," and the echoes go ringing down through all your life, "Mine! Thine!" If you dare confess Christ as your Saviour and Sanctifier He has …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

A Royal Progress
'... Go your way into the village over against you: and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him.'--Mark xi. 2. Two considerations help us to appreciate this remarkable incident of our Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The first of these is its date. It apparently occurred on the Sunday of the Passion Week. The Friday saw the crosses on Calvary. The night before, Jesus had sat at the modest feast that was prepared in Bethany, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Christ's Need of us and Ours
'... Say ye that the Lord hath need of him; and straightway he will send him hither.'--Mark xi. 3. You will remember that Jesus Christ sent two of His disciples into the village that looked down on the road from Bethany to Jerusalem, with minute instructions and information as to what they were to do and find there. The instructions may have one of two explanations--they suggest either superhuman knowledge or a previous arrangement. Perhaps, although it is less familiar to our thoughts, the latter …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Nothing but Leaves
'And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, He came, if haply He might find any thing thereon: and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves; ... 14. And Jesus ... said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever.'--Mark xi. 13, 14. The date of this miracle has an important bearing on its meaning and purpose. It occurred on the Monday morning of the last week of Christ's ministry. That week saw His last coming to Israel, 'if haply He might find any thing thereon.' And if you remember …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Nothing but Leaves
"Thine hands, dear Jesus, were not arm'd With an avenging rod, No hard commission to perform The vengeance of a God. But all was mercy, all was mild, And wrath forsook the throne, When Christ on his kind errand came And brought salvation down." Let us rejoice that God commendeth his love towards us, because in "due time Christ died for the ungodly." Yet, as if to show that Jesus the Savior is also Jesus the Judge, one gleam of justice must dart forth. Where shall mercy direct its fall? See, my brethren, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 10: 1864

True Prayer --True Power!
Give me than your attention while I beg you, first, to look at the text; secondly to look about you; and the, to look above you. I. First, LOOK AT THE TEXT. If you look at it carefully, I think you will perceive the essential qualities which are necessary to any great success and prevalence in prayer. According to our Saviour's description of prayer, there should always be some definite objects for which we should plead. He speaks of things--"what things soever ye desire." It seems then that he did …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 6: 1860

The Secret of Effectual Prayer
"What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them."--MARK xi. 24. Here we have a summary of the teaching of our Lord Jesus on prayer. Nothing will so much help to convince us of the sin of our remissness in prayer, to discover its causes, and to give us courage to expect entire deliverance, as the careful study and then the believing acceptance of that teaching. The more heartily we enter into the mind of our blessed Lord, and set ourselves simply …
Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession

To his Praise!
"They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness." THIS chapter is written more than seven years later than the foregoing, in further testimony and praise. Returning to Canada at the time of the Great War, we came face to face with a serious financial crisis. Only two ways seemed open to us. One was to lay our affairs frankly before the Board, showing that our salary was quite insufficient, with war conditions and prices, to meet our requirements. The other course was to just go forward, …
Rosalind Goforth—How I Know God Answers Prayer

The Prayer of Faith.
Text.--"Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."--Mark xi. 24. THESE words have been by some supposed to refer exclusively to the faith of miracles. But there is not the least evidence of this. That the text was not designed by our Saviour to refer exclusively to the faith of miracles, is proved by the connection in which it stands. If you read the chapter, you will see that Christ and his apostles were at this time …
Charles Grandison Finney—Lectures on Revivals of Religion

The Fourth Rule of Prayer Is, that Notwithstanding of Our Being Thus Abased and Truly...
The fourth rule of prayer is, that notwithstanding of our being thus abased and truly humbled, we should be animated to pray with the sure hope of succeeding. There is, indeed, an appearance of contradiction between the two things, between a sense of the just vengeance of God and firm confidence in his favour, and yet they are perfectly accordant, if it is the mere goodness of God that raises up those who are overwhelmed by their own sins. For, as we have formerly shown (chap. iii. sec. 1, 2) that …
John Calvin—Of Prayer--A Perpetual Exercise of Faith

Praying Without Doubting
PRAYING WITHOUT DOUBTING ". . . And shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith." -- Mark 11:23 These interesting words are a part of the Saviour's discourse on the power of faith. The disciples were greatly astonished by the power manifested in the Master's words which dried up the fruitless tree from the roots. When Jesus arrested the attention of His disciples by this unusual miracle, He obviously intended …
T. M. Anderson—Prayer Availeth Much

Praying with Desire
PRAYING WITH DESIRE ". . . What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." -- Mark 11:24. These inspiring words of Jesus disclose that He has obligated Himself to satisfy the incessant and insistent desires of His praying people. His words leave no doubt in our minds regarding His willingness to answer our requests. He makes it plain that whatsoever things are required to satisfy our spiritual and temporal needs shall be granted according to the …
T. M. Anderson—Prayer Availeth Much

Prayer and Faith (Continued)
"The guests at a certain hotel were being rendered uncomfortable by repeated strumming on a piano, done by a little girl who possessed no knowledge of music. They complained to the proprietor with a view to having the annoyance stopped. 'I am sorry you are annoyed,' he said. 'But the girl is the child of one of my very best guests. I can scarcely ask her not to touch the piano. But her father, who is away for a day or so, will return tomorrow. You can then approach him, and have the matter set right.' …
Edward M. Bounds—The Necessity of Prayer

May one Know that He is Filled?
The question is often asked--How am I to know when I am filled with the Holy Ghost? 1. You may know it from the testimony of the written Word. "All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them" (Mark xi. 24). From this you know, that if you have, up to your light, fulfilled the conditions necessary to the filling of the Holy Ghost, on praying and asking for the Fullness, it is your privilege to believe that you have received what you have …
John MacNeil—The Spirit-Filled Life

Eleventh Lesson. Believe that Ye have Received;'
Believe that ye have received;' Or, The Faith that Takes. Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them.'--Mark xi. 24 WHAT a promise! so large, so Divine, that our little hearts cannot take it in, and in every possible way seek to limit it to what we think safe or probable; instead of allowing it, in its quickening power and energy, just as He gave it, to enter in, and to enlarge our hearts to the measure of what …
Andrew Murray—With Christ in the School of Prayer

Fourteenth Lesson. When Ye Stand Praying, Forgive;'
When ye stand praying, forgive;' Or, Prayer and Love. And whensoever ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any one; that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.'--Mark xi. 25. THESE words follow immediately on the great prayer-promise, All things whatsoever ye pray, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them.' We have already seen how the words that preceded that promise, Have faith in God,' taught us that in prayer all depends …
Andrew Murray—With Christ in the School of Prayer

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