During the last week before the crucifixion
Jesus and His disciples were passing through the town of Bethany. Jesus, being
hungry, saw a fig tree and went to see if there were any figs on it. Finding none,
Jesus cursed the fig tree saying that no one would ever eat of it again.
The next day, when passing the fig tree
again, the disciples were amazed to find the fig tree already withered. Jesus
tells them (in point of fact, He assures them) that anyone who has faith in God
and does not doubt can indeed move mountains.
Jesus goes on to say that when we pray
and ask for something, our faith should be such that we believe we have already
received that for which we asked. This is the power of effective prayer.
Concerning effective prayer, 1 John
5:14-15, HCSB, says: “Now this is the confidence we have before Him: whenever
we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He
hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for.
James 1:5-6, speaking of praying for
wisdom, tells us we are to ask in faith without doubting. Our confidence, our
faith, our strength, our power, our ability to ask believing that we have
already received comes through the power of God in Christ Jesus. It is not just
that we exercise faith but it is that our faith is in our Sovereign God.
As humans,
our minds and our strength are so limited.
But don’t despair for we have an infinitely powerful God. We don’t have
to depend upon and should not depend upon our own limited resources. As
Christians, the Spirit of Almighty God lives within us and that is all the
power we need—the same power that raised Christ from the dead, Romans 8:11.
And that is
why when we pray in faith to God, without doubting, we can ask and believe that
our request has already been granted. May God Richly Bless You!
