Have Faith In God

Mark 11:22–26 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. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. 25 “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. 26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

The back story or the fig Tree

Jesus instructed them to Have Faith in God

or, more accurately, that they already have faith from God

Or both

One of the most incredible promises in the bile

In another place it is expounded further to say, if you have faith and doubt not, you can not only do what I did to the fig tree....

“all things whatsoever you ask in prayer believing you shall receive

Whoever “does not doubt in his heart” - that is in your spirit, your innermost being

but believes that what he says will happen - then he will have what he says.

Faith that Moves Mountains

Jesus is making clear and awesome promises.

So, why do we not see more miraculous answers?

but these are not unconditional promises

There are conditions

so many people have tried to turn this into a magic formula

So instead of something that God has given us to serve Him with power it becomes a self serving method of getting more an more

that is not faith - it borders on sorcery

But if properly understood, then this is every bit as powerful and awesome a promise as it seems on the surface, there are no limits

The first condition is Faith.

What is Faith?

Jesus spoke often of faith. we have examples

Faith is not mind over matter

It is not simply willing to believe something so much that it will materialize -

there is a great deal of validity to positive thinking and confession

and this will certainly aid in growing your faith

but it is not faith

It is easier to learn faith from looking at examples, than to look at a dictionary definition

Hebrews 11 gives us a number of examples of faith

Abel and his sacrifice

Enoch - pleasing God

Noah - building and ark - moved with fear

Abraham - leaving his home

Abraham offering Isaac

Moses rejecting Egypt

and so many others

In these cases faith and works were mixed together - they were in fact inseparable -

faith involved doing something -

faith will activate your actions, and your actions can spark your faith

the two work together

If you have no works, I believe that you have no faith

James 2:21–23 NKJV

21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God.

Some people are disappointing by the failure of their Mark 11:23 effort at faith, becasue they believe faith is purely mental and confession is purely verbal

when it fails, they do not understand

Jesus gave an example of faith in relation to prayer in Luke 18

Luke 18:1–8 NKJV

1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, 2 saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. 3 Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ 4 And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, 5 yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’ ” 6 Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. 7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

Will the son of man really find faith on the earth?

Here Jesus speaks of a faith that will not stop

a faith that keeps coming back in prayer - believing

He also spoke of a faith that can grow and shrink

Mark 4:24–25 NKJV

24 Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. 25 For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”

Have faith In God

There can be more than one kind of faith

I suppose you could have faith in demons - in idols - in scietists

all these faiths might yield different results

the faith that Jesus is speaking of here, the kind that can move mountains and bring forth whatsoever you say, is that kind that is from God and directed to God

You have faith from God - He has dealt to every man the measure of faith

Now, if your faith is God faith, then you cannot expect it to work if you direct it in carnal values

Your faith is for God’s glory - and so is your life

Some people think they can live with self as God of their lives and then expect the same miracles as the Disciples saw.

not from the same God

All of the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11 were doing some great thing for and directed by God- and they were given great and miraculous breakthroughs

they through faith obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, turned to flight the armies of the aliens, out of weakness were made strong

Where is your faith?

Whoever Says to This Mountain

A good many people are not willing to speak up

they are afraid to go out on a limb

they are afraid of being wrong

they are afraid what others will think

they want the miracle, but they want to whisper their faith

This also has to do with your confession -

Let your faith be open and bold

Speak to your mountains - positive confession does bring results

even secular people know this -

this was a basis for the principles in Think and Grow rich

Does Not Doubt In His Heart

If your confession, and expectation is based in faith you must not doubt

many people see this bold promise and think that it could not be - what if you have faith for things God does not want you to have? Like sinful things

You cannot have faith in God, without doubting the sinful desires - God has put the knowledge of Himself in your

And when your faith is in God, and your desire is good, then you must not doubt in our heart

you must learn to reject the inner voices that are contrary to God

This is “believing” God, and He accounts it as righteousness

must consistently reject those inner voices that doubt - not only doubting the object of our desire, but also doubting the character and nature of God

Doubting the calling and mission of God

Then you will have what you say.

And Forgive

Then, suddenly, almost as an afterthought, Jesus tacks on this forgiveness thing

Somehow, the working of our faith, and receiving of gifts, is attached to forgiveness

There are few things that will hinder your well being as much as unforgiveness

will hinder your emotional health

will hinder your physical health

will hinder your spiritual health

and as we see here, unforgiveness will block you from obtaining the promises of God.

If you have anything against anyone - forgive - that your sins are forgiven

then the door is open wide for your faith to work