The Conditions of Prayer

The Conditions of Prayer

Mark 11:20-25 (Vs. 26)

     Prayer is an act of worship. Paying involves all of the human spirit in its approach to God. It involves our mind, will, and emotions as we adore Him, confess our sins, praise Him, and intercede for others. Prayer is the highest human activity we are capable of because it is communication with God. When a person prays it is because God has already touched their spirit and is at work in their life. In John 4:24 Jesus said, “God is a Spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” So, prayer is an act of worship, and must be done with the right heart and attitude.

     It is important that we understand that God hearing and answering our prayers is based on us being in the right relationship with Him. I will give you an example, When the nation of Israel was living in idolatry God spoke through the prophet Isaiah and said, “These people draw near to me with their words and honor me with their lip service, but their hearts are far from me.” That is Isaiah 29:13, and God was not going to hear them because they were not living for God.

     So, the relationship we have with God determines if He will hear and answer our prayers. I think this is why so many people spend so little time in prayer. It’s not because we don’t believe that God hears us, or that He is capable of answering us. It is just that we know our relationship with God is not what it should be.  So, we do not pray, but a Christian who does not pray is like a person who is right-handed going through life, never using their right hand. You are weaker than you should be.

      And I want to encourage you today to pray. Not out of an obligation to God but out of the right relationship with Him. In the final week of the life of Christ, Jesus taught His disciples some important truths about prayer. And what we learn from this passage is: There are conditions for effective prayer in the life of a believer. (Mark 11:20-25)

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. Pray

     Our passage this morning is on the subject of prayer. And it might seem an insignificant subject considering this is the last week of the life of Christ. I mean considering what lies ahead of Him: His death on the cross, the resurrection, and the ascension to heaven is coming. Why stop now and teach the disciples about prayer?

     Jesus has been with them now for three and a half years. During that time, He has led them, taught them, and guided them in wisdom. He has fed them and provided everything for them. But all of that is about to change, and He wants them to know the same power they had while He was with them is still available to them through prayer. In fact, all of heavens resources are available to those who pray. What we learn from this passage is there are conditions for effective prayer in the life of a believer.

     I am going to give you four headings: In vs. 20-21 we will see the Setting of Prayer. Jesus uses the fig tree as an object lesson for us. Then we will see the first condition of prayer, Have faith in God, in Vs 22-23. The second condition of prayer: is Expectation, Vs 24. And the third condition of prayer in Vs. 25, Forgiveness.

     First, we see the setting of Prayer in Vs. 20-21. Vs 20 says, “As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up.”

     This is the same fig tree we saw back in Vs. 13-14, that Jesus had cursed. Apparently, on the night before when they left Jerusalem, after Jesus cleansed the temple and argued with the chief Priests about the temple being His Fathers house and a house of prayer, on the way back to Bethany, they did not see the fig tree.

     Maybe it was dark. Maybe they went back a different way. We do not know, what we do know, is in the morning, (Tuesday morning of the final week of Christ) as they left to go back to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, the fig tree was completely dead. The word withered In Vs. 20-21 means dead.

     The fig tree was a symbol of the nation of Israel. It had leaves on the tree, but no fruit on the vine. It looked healthy and vibrant on the outside, but it was empty and dead on the inside. It was a symbol of the spiritual hypocrisy of the nation. They looked religious and faithful to God, but they were not and in Christ disappointment He passed the judgement of God on the fig tree as a symbol of God’s judgment on the nation.

     Now Jesus uses the fig tree and the words He spoke over it as an object lesson for prayer. In Vs. 21 Peter remembered that Jesus had spoken to the tree, and he was astonished by the results. Which is amazing to me because Peter had seen Jesus glorified on the Mount of Transfiguration. Peter had seen Jesus heal the sick, raise the dead and open the eyes of the blind. Why was he so surprised by the fig tree?  The emphasis in this passage is on how fast it all happened.  Peter was blown away by how powerful and effective the prayer of Jesus was.

     I can’t help but think this speaks to how powerful and effective our prayers can be when we are living in the right relationship with God. And not only powerful and effective but also the speed at which we will receive an answer. That is the lesson Jesus is teaching the disciples. When they meet the conditions of Prayer God will respond, and the same thing is true in our life.

     There are conditions for effective prayer in the life of a believer. The first condition of prayer we see in this passage is to Have faith in God. Vs. 22.

     This is not a suggestion; this is a command. It is imperative in the life of a believer we have faith in God. Hebrew 11:6 says, “without faith it is impossible to please Him for those who come to Him must first believe that He is.” So, faith is essential. But I want you to notice two key words in Vs. 22, “In God.”

     God must be the object of our faith. The bible never tells us to have faith in faith, yet that is what so many people try to do. Whenever we face a difficult situation in life. We lose a job, or we lose a loved one, we get bad news from the doctor we begin to try and arouse the faith inside of us. We think that if we can just build up enough faith, we can get God to move on our behalf. But that is just faith in your ability to have faith. That is not faith in God, that is faith in yourself.

     Faith has no power; it is the object of our faith that has power. Unless our faith is in God it is meaningless. A man’s faith is not going to move the mountain. God is going to move the mountain. Have you ever noticed that most people who came to Jesus had very little faith? Very few already had great faith. That’s why Matthew focuses on the size of our faith, he says, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed you can move mountains.”

     I think about how the disciples were caught in a storm out on the sea of Galilee. And Jesus came walking to them on the water and they were terrified and thought He was a ghost. He said, “do not be afraid it is I.” And Peter said Lord if it is you command me to come to you on the water, and Jesus said come. And Peter got out of the boat and began walking on the water. As long as he fixed his eyes on Jesus, he was alright. But when he began to look at his circumstances he began to sink. And Jesus reached out and took him by the arm and saved him and He said oh you of little faith. It’s not the size of our faith that matters it is the object of our faith that matters. Our faith has to be in God’s ability and not our own.

     Also, faith has a purpose. It is meant to move mountains. Jesus says, “Have faith in God and truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain be taken up and cast into the sea.” Mountains represent immovable object or obstacles in our life. Things that are impossible to overcome. They are to steep to climb and too high to cross.

     But it is important to understand we will never have mountain moving faith in God until we come to know Him intimately and personally. And we do that through prayer. We pray and commune with God and as we see Him do things in our life and changes take place in our heart we begin to trust Him and our confidence and faith in Him grows. We cannot have faith and confidence in someone or something that we do not know and trust.

     I will give you an example. There were two friends of mine Rick and Chris that loved to ice fish. They were going out on a lake one day that was near Rick’s home. Rick grew up on that lake and had fished there his whole life. But Chris had never been there before, and he was afraid. Every step he took on the ice scarred him, and he would run back to land. Rick on the other hand, grabbed his stuff walked out to the middle of the lake, drilled a hole, sat down, and started fishing. What was the difference? Rick knew what he was putting his faith In, and Chris didn’t. The same thing is true about God. We have to know God so we can trust Him. The more time you spend with God in prayer the more you get to know.

     So, the way we posses’ faith is through prayer. Jesus says, “whoever does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him.”  Now this is where the rubber meets the road. What a great promise this is, but what a great contrast as well.

     To not doubt is to not question. It is to not wonder, to not hesitate, to not even consider an alternative. But realistically only God can know if something is going to happen or not. Only He can know perfectly we can’t know. So, what Christ is after is for us to grow in trust and belief. To become like the Apostle Paul in Philippians 4:13 who said, “I can do all things through Christ Jesus who gives me strength. He calls on us to believe in God for the impossible.

     I want you to notice the words in Vs 23, “Whoever says” and “he says.” The power of Christ came from the authority of God when He cursed the fig tree. All He had to do was speak the word and it was done. That is the point that He is making here to us. If we believe without doubt, we can stand on the authority of God. And we can speak the word and it will be done.

     If you remember back in Mark 9:23 when Jesus healed the epileptic boy. His father came to Jesus and said if you can do anything to help us have pity on us and Jesus said, “If you can, all things are possible to him who believes.”

     There are conditions for effective prayer in the life of a believer and the first condition we see is to have faith in God. The second condition I want you to see in this passage is Expectation, Vs, 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.”

     The word “Therefore” is the conclusion of the matter. This is the point Jesus is making. When we pray, we are have the kind of expectation of God that we believe we already have what we are praying for or about. And He says, we are to pray that way about everything. Notice the phrase “all things.”

     “And” in the final clause of Vs. 24 means in addition to. He tells us if we pray that way, we will have what we are praying for. “It will be granted you.” There is no other way to interpret this passage. It means exactly what it says, no matter how close it draws us to the charismatics. Jesus is teaching us here that if meet the conditions of prayer and we are praying in faith without doubt and we are expecting God to move on our behalf, He will grant our request.

     One small disclaimer I have is I believe if we are praying this way and have that kind of relationship with God, we will be praying for the things He already wants us to have. John 15:7, Jesus said, “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.” I don’t believe that if we have that kind of relationship with God and we are living a life that brings honor to Him, we could ask for anything outside of His will for our life.

     Also, I believe Jesus is teaching us to be specific here about what we ask for. He says, “All things for which you pray and ask.” To many times are prayer life is so vague and unsatisfying. We pray a bunch of rehearsed words. John Bunyan said, “It is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.” A simple short prayer with a plan of what you are asking for and who you are praying for is better than a bunch of word salad.

     I mean think about it. Praying without knowing what we are praying for is like going to the store not knowing what you are going to buy. It is like a ship setting sail with no course in mind. It doesn’t know where it is going and it could end up anywhere. That is the way our prayer life is when we do not have a plan of what we are asking for.

     That’s why Jesus says, “Whatever you pray and ask, believe that you have received them.” How can we believe we are going to receive something when we don’t even know ourselves what we are asking for? You will be more satisfied in your prayer life if you have specific things, you are asking for and specific people you are praying for.

     Someone may say, “well I don’t have anything specific to pray for.” I feel sorry for you. Because you have somehow in your own mind reached perfection. And you believe everyone around you is perfect too. You live in your own little world and there is no one sick around you and no one who needs God’s help. When you feel that way feel free to pray for me because I can tell you I need God’s help in my life.

     There are conditions for effective prayer in the life of a believer. The third condition for prayer in this passage is Forgiveness, Vs 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.”

     This is drawn right from the Lord’s prayer in Mathew 6:14-15: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Our prayers will not be answered if we are harboring unforgiveness in our heart. This is a principal found throughout the gospels. Jesus in the sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 said, “If you are bringing you gift to the altar and realize you have something against your brother leave your gift and go be reconciled to your brother.”

     I want you to notice when we are to forgive. In Vs. 25 Jesus says, “Whenever you stand praying.” So, we are to forgive while we are praying. While we are in the act. It doesn’t do us any good to pray and not to forgive. When we are praying, we have to forgive those who have done us wrong and hurt us because hard feelings, anger, and resentment against people is evidence of sin in our life. It is a sign we have not turned from our sin and we are not sincerely seeking forgiveness for ourselves.

     Also, I want you to notice the forgiveness He calls us to, is unlimited. He says, “If you have anything against anyone.” That tells us it does not matter how big or how small the resentment you have toward someone is. Any form of grudge or attitude we have not only affects our prayer life but it affects our relationship with God. Why? Because it affects our ability to be forgiven. So, forgiveness must be unlimited.

     In Matthew 18 Peter said, “Lord how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive his. Up to seven times.” And Jesus said, not up to seven times but seventy time seven. In other words, Forgiveness has to be unlimited. A Christian who walks around unable to forgive is like the fig tree it has leaves and looks good on the outside but it has no fruit, because it has no real relationship with God.

     I heard a story this week about a father who loved to take his son to the carnival. He would buy a bunch of tickets and he would stand there and watch his son ride the rides. His son would get off one ride and run to his father to get the tickets for the next ride.

      Then one time he tore off the tickets and gave then to his son and there was another boy standing there with his hand out. And the father said I’m sorry you can’t have any of these tickets. I don’t know you. And His son came back and said it’s ok dad. This is my new friend and I told him you would give him whatever he asked for. And the father said ok, Because My Son says so. In the same way when we come to God in the right relationship with Jesus Christ we meet all the conditions to have what we are asking for in prayer.

     I want you to understand that God does not hear our prayers based on some kind of math equation. It doesn’t matter how long they are or how short they are or what kind of language you use when you pray. What matters is the divinity of our prayers are they based on a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

     I want to encourage you today to go to the Lord in prayer. Not in obligation, but in the power and the promises of God. Go to Him and tell Him you know it is not His fault you do not triumph over the mountains in your life, but that it is your fault because you do not seek Him in prayer.