Mark 11:20-25 ESV
The Lesson from the Withered Fig Tree
20 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21 And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” 22 And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. 23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received[c] it, and it will be yours. 25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”[d]
Main Points: 1) The power of prayer is unlimited because God is truly unlimited. If we limit our thinking in our prayers to what we know or don't know, we're missing the boat on countless opportunities that the Lord has before us. 2)Matthew 6 talks about how we should pray (the Lord's prayer and for God/cause not for appearance) and Romans 8:26 talks about how the spirit intercedes. This passage adds to these by saying we should be expectant with every prayer or petition we bring to the Lord.(Philippians 4:5-7) This means to TRUST in the Lord and let Him take the reins in your life. With this, even mountains will move to prayer and with belief you can see them part before you. 3) Stand humble before the Lord and remember to be prayerfully dependent. (Grace church SC line) Our lives are as carefully crafted/ directed as a flight from San Francisco to DC has to be to hit the flight path. Did you know that a 1 degree difference in travel trajectory at take off in this case would have the plane arrive in Baltimore instead or a 42 mile difference? We need God to keep us on course constantly on our journey to reach the right destinations and we do this by being connected through prayer and scripture. Here the bible is our road map and the Lord is our Co Pilot. Prayer is how we talk to Him. 4) Remember that the Lord is our Shepherd and that He's ALWAYS listening! (Psalm 23)