Mark 11:18-26

Rachel Workman: ¹⁸ The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. They feared him because of what it meant to them. They didn't want anyone overthrowing their teachings.

19 When evening came, Jesus and his disciples[e] went out of the city.

20 In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. 21 Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”

22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “Truly[f] I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." I'm no expert here but it appears as if Christ is speaking to all of us here. He's not asking us to pray to move a physical mountain. He's telling us the secret to a successful prayer life. We need to have faith in God. He didn't say have faith in your finances, your spouse, your children, the government or any other person or thing. He said GOD. Have faith in God. Ask and believe and receive sounds good. I personally have not experienced it every single time I pray. Maybe the reason is my faith was misplaced somewhere besides God. Maybe I did have enough faith and what I was asking for was not within the will of God. Which I believe is the kind of prayer Christ was speaking of here. I do know one thing. Regardless of what I've asked for and not received my needs have always been filled. Not everything we need or think we need are fulfilled by the things we think we need to fulfill them. Our peace comes from God alone. When we try to get peace any other way it's usually just temporary. 

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John Burnett:  ¹⁸ The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching.

¹⁹ When evening came, ^[a]they would go out of the city.

²⁰ As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. ²¹ Being reminded, Peter *said to Him, “Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered.” ²² And Jesus *answered saying to them, “Have faith in God. ²³ Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. ²⁴ Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. ²⁵ Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. ²⁶ [^[b]But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.”]  Can’t be any more clear on how important it is for us to forgive one another.  When we do not forgive and hold a grudge to get back at someone, we are by our actions saying that Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection was not enough to pay for that person’s sins.  We are saying that our grudge is still needed for justice to be served.  Verse 26 is huge in that if you are not forgiven/justified you are dead in your sins and you are going to live separated from God in eternal torment.  Verse 26 shows that we must understand and believe that Jesus Christ alone is sufficient to justify and our little add ons of consequence means we don’t understand the gospel of grace and we are not saved.  Thank you Jesus for being totally sufficient to pay for the wrath I deserve and help me to forgive those who sin against me.  I know that you died for them just like you died for me and that was enough.

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Tomorrow's reading for Mark 11:27-33

²⁷ They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. ²⁸ “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you authority to do this?”

²⁹ Jesus replied, “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. ³⁰ John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin? Tell me!”

³¹ They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ ³² But if we say, ‘Of human origin’ …” (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.)

³³ So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”