Jesus cursed the Fig tree…

Mark 11:11-21…

In this passage, two unusual incidents are related:

the cursing of the fig tree and the clearing of the Temple.

The cursing of the fig tree was an acted-out parable related to the clearing of the Temple.

The Temple was supposed to be a place of worship, but true worship had disappeared.

Likewise, the fig tree showed promise of fruit, but it produced none.

Jesus was showing His anger at religious life without substance.

If you claim to have faith without putting it to work in your life, you are like the barren fig tree.

2 Timothy 4:2 tells us to, “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season…”

Genuine faith has great potential; ask God to help you bear fruit for His Kingdom.

Fig trees, a popular source of inexpensive food in Israel, require three years from the time they are planted until they can bear fruit.

Each tree yields a great amount of fruit twice a year, in late spring and in early autumn.

This incident occurred early in the spring when the leaves were beginning to bud.

The figs normally grow as the leaves fill out, but this tree, though full of leaves, had no figs.

The tree looked promising but offered no fruit.

Jesus’ harsh words to the fig tree could be applied to the nation of Israel.

Fruitful in appearance only, Israel was spiritually barren.

Make sure your anger is directed toward the right issues.

When we have faith in God and do not doubt, there is nothing we cannot possess or achieve.

Jesus said, “All things become possible when we believe (Mark 9:23).

Like Joshua, when God told him to lead Israel into the promised Land, we too are often facing obstacles and battles that are attempting to keep us from conquering the land that God has given us.

Five kings are bearing down upon us…

Discouragement, deception, defeat, destruction and death.

They roar into our world like a Hells Angels motorcycle gang.

Their goal is to chase us back into the wilderness.

Don’t give an inch. Respond in prayer—honest, continual, and audacious prayer.

You are a member of God’s family. You come to God not as a stranger but as an heir.

Confidently approach His throne. Earnestly make your requests known to Him not because of what you have achieved but because of what Christ has done.

Jesus spilled His blood for you. You can spill your heart before God.

Jesus said if you have faith, you can tell a mountain to go and jump into the sea (see v. 23).

What is your mountain? What is the challenge of your life?

Call out to God for help in your hour of need, and He will most assuredly answer you, according to His Word, which He promises shall never return to Him void, without accomplishing the purpose wherein it was sent.

SELAH (let us pause and calmly think about these things)

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365 Days of Healing…

Speak the Word and Go Your Way

“And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, He was hungry: and seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, He came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, He found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever.”

(Mark 11:12-14)

Jesus came to a fig tree looking for fruit, but there was no fruit on it. So He cursed the fig tree, saying, “No man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever,” and then He just walked away.

We can learn something on the subject of faith right here.

Jesus spoke the Word and then went His way.

Although the tree didn’t change immediately, Jesus didn’t wonder whether His words had worked.

He just walked away in faith that what He said would come to pass.Jesus and the disciples left for Jerusalem.

When they came back the next day, His disciples said, “Master, the fig tree you cursed is withered away!

It died from the roots!” (v. 21).

Second Corinthians 5:7 says, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

You see, it didn’t matter what Jesus saw. It was what He believed that made the difference.

That’s the very basis of faith. Faith is walking by what God says instead of by what you see-because what God says will change what you see!

Faith is placing your confidence in the Truth (Jesus is the Truth – see John 14:6).

Romans 3:4 says, “Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar….”

In John 17:17, Jesus is praying for us and says, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”

God’s Word takes precedence above any of our experiences, beliefs, opinions or doctrines.

The only real truth we will ever find in this world is the Word of God.

We can believe that Word and speak it forth in faith, confident in the knowledge that our words will come to pass!

Prayer Confession:

God’s Word is true. I act on His Word—believing it, receiving it and speaking it—and it changes my circumstances.

I walk in agreement with God’s Word, and I enjoy His very best.[Source: 365 Days of Healing by Mark Braze]

Amen!

Come join the Adventure!

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