Mark 11:22-23 (NKJV) 22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
Words spoken by faith are an important tool used to release the power of God’s possibilities. When we speak words of doubt and unbelief we reinforce the power of the impossibilities we face. When we limit our discussion to natural possibilities, we limit our expectation to natural possibilities. When we choose to speak the Word of God over the impossibilities we face, we access the realm of the spirit in which dwells a whole range of possibilities that the natural world cannot understand.
This week we have been going back to the method God used in creation. He spoke words that contained both the blueprint of what he wanted and the power to bring it into existence as the natural world we live in. He continued through Genesis 1 to use the spirit filled words to reshape the substance of what he made into the world we see around us. Everything from the seasons to the animals came forth because “God said.”
In Genesis 2 we find that God formed man’s body from this substance called “earth” and breathed a spirit into the empty shell. The spirit of man gave life to the body of man. God gave him the authority and duty of “keeping” the garden. Since he had no tools or technology, I believe it is logical to assume that he cultivated and protected the world using the same method God had used to make it. He used his words.
Man was vitally joined to God. He was a spirit being clothed in flesh; the substance of the natural world. He was a bridge between the two. He was in fellowship with God. He had the nature of his Father. When he spoke his words carried the authority and the power of the creator. The world was designed to respond to them and did.
When man fell, this connection was broken. God used various other means to speak into his creation but the direct link was no longer available. God undertook to change that. In Bethlehem of Judea, God himself took on the form of sinful flesh by inhabiting a body formed in the womb of a virgin girl. The one who was born was the son of man because of his mother and the son of God because of his Father. The bible tells us in John 1 that the Word was with God and the Word who was God himself became flesh. God once again could speak directly to his creation through a human voice.
If all of this is true, then we should see it in the ministry of Jesus. In today’s scripture as well as many others, we do. The story of Mark 11:23 requires a little background to be fully understood. On the surface it almost seems that Jesus was being mean to the poor fig tree because it was not the time for figs. Just because it looked like it should have fruit and did not was no reason to kill the thing. That is not what is happening.
Jesus spent a whole day in Jerusalem looking at the temple practices. He said nothing. He simply observed as the money changers cheated the people and the priests went through the religious motions without any real faith. He went home to pray about what he saw. He did not simply react either to the scene at “his Father’s house” nor when he spoke to the fig tree.
On the way back to Jerusalem he saw a tree that had green leaves on it. As you look into the history of the time you find that it was before the fig harvest. It was not yet time to pick the figs. Nevertheless, this tree looked fruitful. Harvest time is the season when the most fruit is ripe and ready to pick. However, in the period leading up to harvest there is generally some fruit that ripens early.
When Jesus got to this one it looked good but there was not a single fig on the tree. What he saw was Jerusalem and the temple. It looked good on the outside but the religion was empty. There was no fruit. Jesus cursed the tree. Better to drive the life out of a fig tree than out of all the priests, scribes and money changers.
When they returned the next day the tree was dried up from the roots. Peter could hardly believe what he saw. Everybody says things like that. We do not expect them to come to pass! He pointed out to Jesus that what he said had actually happened. I am sure he thought, “What a coincidence.” Jesus might have said to them, “It is no coincidence.”
He proceeds to give them a lesson. This lesson is the same one we have been studying. He starts by exhorting them to have faith in God. Faith in God is what caused the fig tree to wither and die. The vehicle for that faith to get to the fig tree was the same vehicle that created its ancestor in Eden. Jesus said words that were born in the spirit and spoken by faith from someone with a vital connection to the creator.
I want you to notice something. Jesus did not say, “I was able to do that because I am the son of God. You, of course, cannot because you are just human beings.” What he said was “If you say to the mountain.” He tells us that if we speak words of faith and believe that they will come to pass, they will. We will have what we say. This is not just for him but for anyone who will walk by faith in God.
The example he gives is something he had never done and to my knowledge no one else has ever done. “If you say to this mountain be removed and cast into the sea, it will obey you. If you do not doubt you will have what you say.” Why use such an extreme example? I believe it is to let us know that this power is only limited by what we can believe. Anything in creation will respond to faith filled words or words that flow from a connection to the creator. It is just how the creation is designed.
We see this same thing in the book of Mark.
Mark 4:41 (NKJV) 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”
We know this story as well. The disciples were told to go to the other side of the lake. While in the middle of the lake a storm arose. Jesus was in the back of the boat asleep. The disciples spoke words of fear that enforced the status quo and declared its outcome. “Master we are going to die!”
Jesus stood up in the front of the boat and did something that defies logic. He spoke to the wind and the waves. The storm ceased immediately. The disciples could not believe what they saw and Jesus told them that was their problem. Their response is interesting. The wondered who this really was because the creation obeyed him! What they did not understand is that the creation was simply responding to its programing. Words that originated with the creator were spoken by a human voice who spoke out of his faith connection with the same creator. The creation obeyed.
You are probably saying, “It cannot be that simple. If I just say the right things everything will happen the way I want it too?” Of course not. If you say what God is saying and you say it by faith, everything will happen the way God wants it to. The thing to remember is that God is for you not against you. God desires to bless his children. God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him not a punisher. If you speak God’s word you open up God’s possibilities. They may not happen as you want them to and what you want may not happen at all. What will happen will be greater than anything you can ask or even think. (Ephesians 3:20)
Words are not the only key but they are a major part of how God intends us to have dominion over the earth by walking in the power of God’s possibilities.
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