DEVOTION – DAY 387

Mark 11:22-24 “Faith In God”

Mark 11:22-24 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered, “Truly, I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, “Go, throw yourself into the sea, and does not doubt it in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.” Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

The above teaching by Jesus to His disciples is well-known but often misunderstood as it was taken out of context. Many who read these verses think that if they pray hard enough, and believe in their hearts that God will answer their prayers, then, whatever they ask will be answered. Since not all prayers are answered, and some are only partially answered, this has led people to think that maybe they lacked enough faith, or maybe they did not pray hard enough. 

In order to understand this passage accurately, we need to know the context in which Jesus gave this teaching to His disciples. Jesus had just cleared the Temple of its merchants and He had accused the Pharisees of turning the Father’s house into a “den of robbers.” Jesus saw the Pharisees, the Jewish religious leaders, as bad leaders. And so, when He said to His disciples in v22 that “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain..”, Jesus was not talking about “any mountain.” Jesus was talking about “this mountain”, the mountain that the temple in Jerusalem was standing on. Since the Pharisees were corrupt, Jesus was simply teaching the disciples to pray to God and believed that He would remove all the bad religious leaders, it would be done. Jesus was not teaching His disciples they could ask God for anything under the sun and it would be given.

The other main point Jesus made was the disciples were to have the right kind of faith. They must have faith in God Himself. God is the living Almighty Creator of the Universe. He is also Holy and Righteous. If we believe with all our hearts who He is and what He is capable of, then, when we ask Him in our prayers to do something that is in accordance to His will, He will answer our prayers. Jesus was not teaching about having strong faith. Faith must be on the right object – that object must be God, the Father, and God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit.

We know someone whose business failed. He had a firm belief in his own ability to start all over again. But his efforts did not amount to much. He tried to stay positive but nothing seemed to work. Then, he started to blame God for failing to come to his assistance. He had placed his faith on his own abilities and business connections. His faith was not on God and who He is. Because he misunderstood the above passage, he ended up doubting and blaming God.

Let us pray: Heavenly Father, please forgive us for the times when we lose our focus and put our faith on something else other than on You. Please help us to always remember that You are the object of our faith. In You alone, we put our faith and trust. We pray this in the holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Questions

  1. Have you ever doubted or misunderstood God when you prayed and your prayers remained unanswered? What happened?
  2. Why is it important that your faith must be in the Lord alone?
  3. What can you learn about prayer from Jesus’ teaching in this passage? Share.