Facing Obstacles With Faith and Prayer

Mark 11:11–26 NKJV

11 And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve. 12 Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry. 13 And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” And His disciples heard it. 15 So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 16 And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. 17 Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ” 18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching. 19 When evening had come, He went out of the city. 20 Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. 21 And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.” 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.”

Pray: Lord, please teach us to pray so that we can remove mountains and every obstacle that comes our way. Amen

I want to talk to you about how to face obstacles with faith and prayer.

We know that Jesus spoke the truth—He definitely wasn’t wrong when He said that in this life we will have trouble (John 16.33)!

And trouble comes from many directions. The Bible tells us that there are unseen spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places (Ephesians 6.12). These spirits are working behind the scenes trying to frustrate you and keep you from fulfilling your purpose in God.

And not only are there spiritual forces of wickedness coming against us, they work in a number of ways too. Their attacks can be spiritual or natural. They come in random issues or even are seen in the resistance we feel after victories.

In the words of Sweet Brown, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”

We need to be prepared for and equipped to deal with these obstacles because there is so much for us to do and enjoy in this life (cf. 2 Timothy 2.15, 1 Timothy 6.17).

The good news is that we can learn to pray with confidence and authority as we learn to trust that God is sufficient to meet every challenge. And, as Jesus told His disciples, this type of praying can move mountains.

The Power In Prayer

Prayer is not magic. The power of God is not in incantation and ritual. These things lack the ability to overcome the troubles and challenges we face.

Additionally, we often discover that foregoing prayer and taking things into our own hands is often not sufficient to give us victory either.

Illustration: The Seven Sons of Sceva (Acts 19.13-17). They tried to use Jesus name in their exorcisms without knowing Jesus. The demons knew Paul and Jesus but not them.

We need to learn to use the Biblical answer to obstacles—effective prayer (James 5.16).

The prayer of faith is powerful (James 5.15). Prayer makes mountains become plains (cf. Zechariah 4.7).

Prayer is a divine privilege that puts our problems into perspective, elevates our vision of God, and applies the promises of God in our lives.

Prayer makes our problems small. It reminds us that our God is big. And it brings the manifestation of the kingdom of God into our lives.

Leveraging Prayer

One of the main lessons of today’s passage is that those who trust and believe God when they pray will see obstacles moved from their lives.

Here are three things we can do to learn how to leverage the prayer of faith to overcome obstacles:

Find the Right Perspective

The first step to effective prayer is to get the perspective of faith.

Mark 11:22 NKJV

So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God.

Faith is the starting point of bringing the invisible to the visible.

Hebrews 11:1–3 NKJV

1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Faith in God is trusting Him as God. It is recognizing His capacity, ability, and willingness.

When Jesus gave the instructions on how to pray He taught that we draw near to the Father through worship and praise (James 4.8, Matthew 6.9-10, Psalm 100.4).

When we begin to see God afresh as our God and Father then we develop confidence (cf. 1 John 5.14-15). We don’t start with the problem, we begin with the acknowledgement that there is no problem that God can’t handle.

When we start with God we begin to see our problems next to Him as small and insignificant.

Before you let your obstacles become insurmountable in your eyes, take time to place them next to Jesus. Take the time to worship God and turn your attention away from them to Him.

When you put things in the right perspective you can move forward with faith.

Illustration: we want to look at God as if we were looking through a telescope and not a microscope. Telescopes are for incredibly large things. Microscopes for small. Telescopes position us under. Microscopes position us over.

When we start by getting the perspective of faith we realize that God is so much greater than any obstacle we face.

Make the Right Preparation

In our story there are three things that we must deal with if we are going to be effective in prayer. These things will keep us from being able to receive help in time of need and gaining victory over our circumstances (cf. Hebrews 4.16).

The background of the story was a trip to the Temple (and in Mark’s gospel his literary goal is to show the judgment on the Temple). Jesus used that background to teach about faith and prayer.

Remove Pretense

Mark 11:13–14 NKJV

13 And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” And His disciples heard it.

The fig tree pretended to be fruitful even though it wasn’t. It was showing outwardly that it was healthy, but the truth was that it wasn’t.

As a result, Jesus prayed that it would no longer bear fruit again. Peter called His prayer a curse. A biblical curse is not a hex or some thing like that but a pronunciation or declaration of God’s judgment and justice. Just as a biblical blessing is a declaration of God’s purpose for good.

If we want to be effective in prayer, we need to remove pretense and come before God honestly as we actually are, not how we want to be.

Remove Perversion

The second thing we need to do is remove perversion.

Mark 11:17 NKJV

Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ”

Jeremiah 7:8–11 NKJV

8 “Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, 10 and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’? 11 Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the Lord.

When Jesus quoted Jeremiah, He was connecting the things that was happening in the temple with the ideas that the prophet spoke of. In other words, the things that the people were doing were an abomination to God. They were defiling the temple and making it unfit to fulfill its function as a meeting place between God and His people.

This encounter in the temple and Jesus’ pivot to prayer reminds us that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6.19). Sin and idolatry will prevent us from entering into the presence of God (Isaiah 59.2, Jeremiah 5.25, James 4.6).

Like Jesus driving out the evildoers from the Temple in His day, we need to deal with the evil in our hearts in ours.

Remove Pride

The last major obstacle to effective prayer and faith is pride.

Mark 11:25–26 NKJV

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.”

Withholding forgiveness is a form of pride. It is an act that says that a person is not worthy of us and that we reside over them as judge.

But pride goes before destruction (Proverbs 16.18). Unforgiveness traps us and keeps us in bondage to the moment of pain. It keeps us from being healed and freed from it.

Forgive and it will be forgiven you (Luke 6.37).

If you will make the preparation to meet with God, you will be ready to come into His presence. And when you come into His presence He will receive you.

Prepare to Receive

The final step is to prepare to receive.

Mark 11:24 NKJV

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

One of the keys to receiving your requests is to believe that you receive them beforehand.

But how do you do that? You do what Jesus did when He prayed. He considered God’s will and God’s kingdom first (Matthew 6.10).

He prayed what He heard the Father saying to His situation (John 12.49). He prayed exactly what God wanted to happen.

Because of that, He had authority to bind and loose on earth that which had already been determined to be bound or loosed in heaven (Matthew 16.19).

Illustration: God’s provision in my car payment…according to His word. I “put Him in remembrance” (Isaiah 43.26).

Conclusion

When you find the right perspective and draw near to God first you will begin to see with faith.

Drawing near to God will cause you to want to make the right preparation and ensure that we are honest, holy, and humble when we come into His presence.

Finally, we prepare to receive because God hears our prayers and is ready to answer them.

When we do these things we will find that our troubles will not trouble us as much. We can speak to those mountains and command them to move and every obstacle will flee at God’s command. He will make a way, even when there seems to be no way.

This will give us a boldness as we grow in confidence that we can come into God’s presence for help in all of our troubles (Psalm 34.17).

Pray: Father, help us to pray your will into our world. Teach us that with you all things are possible and that faith in you allows us to face every obstacle without fear. Amen.