"The Awesome Potential of Biblical Prayers" (Mark 11:20-24)

In our passage, Jesus shares a teachable moment with Christ followers concerning prayer! When I speak about the awesome potential of biblical prayers, I'm talking about prayer that's prayed with sincere faith in God. In the church today, many are praying with a re-defined faith that leaves them discouraged, confused and increasingly frustrated that they're prayers are not answered! Let's examine Jesus' words in verse 22. It reads, "And Jesus answered saying to them, "Have faith in God." This phrase teaches us about prayer that's in submission to God's power and authority. This also teaches that in order for our faith to be sincere and effective, it must have an object, and the object has to be God! Why is this important to understand? Because a faith that doesn't have God as the object is re-defined, distorted, and unsound! There's a teaching within the church that says faith is a force and therefore has power. Do you see how harmful and dangerous this teaching is? When we believe that there is power in "faith" itself, we wind up praying whatever we want or desire as opposed to what God desires for us. Faith is only as genuine, and only as powerful, as the object in which it is placed. And we must make absolutely sure our faith is in God Himself, and not in any words we speak or say! The power and authority behind the success of prayer is always found in God! That is the reason Jesus took this particular moment to teach about prayer. It was after the disciples had seen what happened to the fig tree, after Jesus spoke to it, that they were made aware of the power and authority of Jesus' words. The power and authority is found in Jesus' words, not ours! We could stand in front of a fig tree and command all day long that it wither, and our words will not make the tree wither up the next day! We have no such power and our words have no such authority. If we're honest with ourselves, we'd have to agree that this is so. This is why Jesus led them to encounter that fig tree again. It was designed to teach them and us the power and authority of His will, and that power and authority is the reason why our prayers can be effective! Be encouraged!