I. DESTRUCTION MAY SERVE THE PURPOSES OF LIFE. Here the fig tree is destroyed for the sake of a lesson to the spirit. Much lower life is destroyed from day to day that the higher may be preserved.

II. THE INCIDENT ILLUSTRATES THE RESERVE OF CHRIST'S MIRACULOUS POWER. He could destroy; that was evident. But he came not to destroy, but to save. And while he lavished his power upon the sick and suffering, to heal, cheer, and deliver, he economized the dread power of destruction. Compare what is said on this subject in 'Ecce Homo!'

III. FAITH THE ONE SECRET OF POWER. Our Lord here employs, as often, a bold figure of speech. To the undivided thought and will nothing is ideally impossible. Actually our power is limited, as is our thought. But we are born for the ideal, and to overcome our limitations. Prayer is essentially part of faith; it is the exercise of the will, the entire going-forth of the man in that direction in which he is called endlessly to exert himself.

IV. LOVE IS AN ESSENTIAL CONDITION OF TRUE FAITH. Faith works by love. How mistaken is it to limit faith to intellectual assent! Devils believe, but love not, and are weak. Faith and love are other words for the might of God in the soul. "Oh, my brothers, God exists! Believing love will relieve us of a load of care!" - will lift mountains' weight from the spirit, and make our ideals a present reality. But the unloving, unforgiving soul remains fettered in itself, unreleased, unfree, and weak. - J.

"This mountain," which Christ promised His disciples power to remove, and which in after years they did most effectually remove, was the holy mount on which the Hebrew temple once stood, but which is now crowned with churches and a mosque. He saw that even the Jewish religion was waxing old and ready to vanish away. And yet how impossible it seemed that they, a few simple and unlettered men, with no force but their faith in Him, should achieve this mighty task. The whole world, heathen and Hebrew, was against them: the unbroken power of Rome, the unsurpassed wisdom of the Greeks, the ancient philosophies and hereditary customs of the unchanging East, the fierce barbarism of the North, the jealous and tenacious bigotry of the Jews; the lusts of the flesh and of the mind, the pride and splendour of life; all to which men leaned with all the weight of habit, tradition, and inclination. And yet, in a few years, all these mighty forces went down before the power of faith; and, where they still survive, their doom is written on them in characters which it takes no prophet to read. All this the disciples had to believe before, as yet, any jot of it had come to pass. Their faith in God, and in the redeeming purpose of His love, was to be their sole warrant and evidence that the temple, with all which it symbolized, was to pass away; that "this mountain," with all its pile of sacred fabrics, all its weight of sacred memories, was to be cast into the sea; and that the world, banded in an apparently impregnable unity against them, was nevertheless to be overcome. And in this faith they both destroyed the temple and conquered the world.

(S. Cox, D. D.)

Our Lord here presupposes that believers will be called by God to the undertaking and doing of great and difficult works, such as are above and beyond the power of nature, and as hard and difficult to flesh and blood as the removing of a mountain. Such great and difficult works may a Christian be called by God to perform: yea, every Christian is actually called by God to the performance of such hard and difficult works, so soon as he is called to believe and to be a Christian — e.g., a Christian is called to deny himself, and to take up his cross and follow Christ: which are most difficult works, impossible to nature and contrary to it. A Christian is also called to the practice of repentance, i.e., to die unto sin, to mortify his sinful lusts, etc., a most hard, difficult, and painful work. Again, we are called to obey God in all things which He requires: in all parts of His will, though never so hard and contrary to our nature. We are called to despise the world, and to use it as if we used it not; yea, to be crucified and dead to it; and to forsake all we have for Christ and the gospel. All these are most hard and difficult duties, which every Christian and true believer is called to undertake and perform; and he must indeed perform them, in some measure at least; otherwise, he cannot be a good Christian. If we wish to be good Christians indeed, we must not promise ourselves a life of ease; we must think seriously and often what we are called to; and we must daily pray and labour for supernatural strength and grace. Not of ourselves can we accomplish this arduous task; but God, who calls us to it, will enable us to perform it, if we seek from Him that which we have not in ourselves.

(G. Petter.)

When William Carey went to India, many a wise man would have said to him, "You may lust as well walk up to the Himalaya mountains, and order them to be removed and cast into the sea." I would have said, "That is perfectly true; this Hinduism is as vast and as solid as those mountains; but we have faith — not much, yet we have faith as a grain of mustard seed"; and William Carey said, "I will go up to the mountain." Lonely and weak he walked up towards the mountain, which in the eye of man seemed verily one of the summits of human things, far above all power to touch or shako it; and with his own feeble voice he began saying, "Be thou removed! be thou removed!" And the world looked on and laughed, a celebrated clergyman, looking down from his high place in the Edinburgh Review, was much amused with the spectacle of that poor man down in Bengal, thinking in his simple heart that he was going to disturb Hinduism; and from his high place he cast down a scalding word, which he meant to fall just as of old boiling lead used to fall upon a poor man from the height of a tower. He called him a "consecrated cobbler." All the wise world laughed, and said he was treated as he ought to be treated. However, he went on saying to the mountain, "Be thou removed! be thou removed!" And one joined him, and another joined him; the voice grew stronger; it was repeated in more languages than one: "Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the depths of the sea!" and now there is a large company who are uttering that one word, "Be thou removed!" I ask the living representatives of the very men who first smiled at this folly, "What say ye now?" "Well," they answer, "you have not got into the sea yet." That is true; but do you say that the mountain during the last forty years has not moved? No man can say that it is in the same position as it was when William Carey first went up to it. It is moving fast; and I call upon you to swell that voice, the voice of God's Church, which seems to say, "Be thou removed, be thou removed, and be thou east into the depths of the sea!" Cast into those depths it will be; and a day will come when the nations of a regenerated East will write in letters of gold upon the first pages of their Christian history the name of the "consecrated cobbler."

(William Arthur.)

David, Jesus, John, PeterBethany, Bethphage, Jerusalem, Mount of OlivesAnyone, Believe, Believes, Cast, Certainly, Desire, Doesn't, Doubt, Faith, Granted, Happening, Heart, Hurl, Mount, Mountain, Pass, Remove, Removed, Says, Solemn, Stedfastly, Takes, Throw, Thyself, Truly, Truth, Verily, Whatever, Whatsoever1. Jesus rides with triumph into Jerusalem;
12. curses the fruitless fig tree;
15. purges the temple;
20. exhorts his disciples to steadfastness of faith, and to forgive their enemies;
27. and defends his actions by the witness of John, who was a man sent of God.

Mark 11:23

     1462   truth, in NT
     2021   Christ, faithfulness
     5015   heart, and Holy Spirit
     5884   indecision
     8723   doubt, results of

Mark 11:20-24

     1416   miracles, nature of

Mark 11:22-23

     5776   achievement

Mark 11:22-24

     8024   faith, and blessings

Mark 11:23-24

     8722   doubt, nature of

December 20 Evening
If the Lord would make windows in heaven might this thing be?--II KGS. 7:2. Have faith in God.--Without faith it is impossible to please God.--With God all things are possible. Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.--Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

July 24 Evening
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief.--ROM. 4:20. Have faith in God. Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.--Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

The Prayer of Faith. October 7.
With the prayer of faith we can do anything. Look at Mark xi. 24--a text that has saved more than one soul from madness in the hour of sorrow; and it is so simple and wide--wide as eternity, simple as light, true as God Himself. If we are to do great things it must be in the spirit of that text. Verily, when the Son of God cometh shall He find faith in the earth? Letters and Memories. 1843. …
Charles Kingsley—Daily Thoughts,

August 19. "Have Faith in God" (Mark xi. 22).
"Have faith in God" (Mark xi. 22). He requires of us a perfect faith, and He tells us that if we believe and doubt not, we shall have whatsoever we ask. The faintest touch of unbelief will neutralize our trust. But how shall we have such perfect faith? Is it possible for human nature? Nay, but it is possible to the Divine nature, it is possible to the Christ within us. It is possible for God to give it; and God does give it. But Christ is the Author and Finisher of our faith, and He bids us have …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

March 31. "What Things Soever Ye Desire when Ye Pray, Believe that Ye Receive them and Ye Shall have Them" (Mark xi. 24).
"What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them" (Mark xi. 24). Faith is not working up by will power a sort of certainty that something is coming to pass, but it is seeing as an actual fact that God has said that this thing shall come to pass, and that it is true, and then rejoicing to know that it is true, and just resting and entering into it because God has said it. Faith turns the promise into a prophecy. While it is merely a promise it is contingent …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

July 12. "When Ye Pray, Believe that Ye Receive" (Mark xi. 24).
"When ye pray, believe that ye receive" (Mark xi. 24). Consecration is entered by an act of faith. You are to take the gift from God, believe you have, and confess that you have it. Step out on it firmly, and let the devil know you have it as well as the Lord. When once you say to Him boldly, "I am Thine," He answers back from the heavenly heights, "Thou art Mine," and the echoes go ringing down through all your life, "Mine! Thine!" If you dare confess Christ as your Saviour and Sanctifier He has …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

A Royal Progress
'... Go your way into the village over against you: and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him.'--Mark xi. 2. Two considerations help us to appreciate this remarkable incident of our Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The first of these is its date. It apparently occurred on the Sunday of the Passion Week. The Friday saw the crosses on Calvary. The night before, Jesus had sat at the modest feast that was prepared in Bethany, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Christ's Need of us and Ours
'... Say ye that the Lord hath need of him; and straightway he will send him hither.'--Mark xi. 3. You will remember that Jesus Christ sent two of His disciples into the village that looked down on the road from Bethany to Jerusalem, with minute instructions and information as to what they were to do and find there. The instructions may have one of two explanations--they suggest either superhuman knowledge or a previous arrangement. Perhaps, although it is less familiar to our thoughts, the latter …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Nothing but Leaves
'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; ... 14. And Jesus ... said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever.'--Mark xi. 13, 14. The date of this miracle has an important bearing on its meaning and purpose. It occurred on the Monday morning of the last week of Christ's ministry. That week saw His last coming to Israel, 'if haply He might find any thing thereon.' And if you remember …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Nothing but Leaves
"Thine hands, dear Jesus, were not arm'd With an avenging rod, No hard commission to perform The vengeance of a God. But all was mercy, all was mild, And wrath forsook the throne, When Christ on his kind errand came And brought salvation down." Let us rejoice that God commendeth his love towards us, because in "due time Christ died for the ungodly." Yet, as if to show that Jesus the Savior is also Jesus the Judge, one gleam of justice must dart forth. Where shall mercy direct its fall? See, my brethren, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 10: 1864

True Prayer --True Power!
Give me than your attention while I beg you, first, to look at the text; secondly to look about you; and the, to look above you. I. First, LOOK AT THE TEXT. If you look at it carefully, I think you will perceive the essential qualities which are necessary to any great success and prevalence in prayer. According to our Saviour's description of prayer, there should always be some definite objects for which we should plead. He speaks of things--"what things soever ye desire." It seems then that he did …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 6: 1860

The Secret of Effectual Prayer
"What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them."--MARK xi. 24. Here we have a summary of the teaching of our Lord Jesus on prayer. Nothing will so much help to convince us of the sin of our remissness in prayer, to discover its causes, and to give us courage to expect entire deliverance, as the careful study and then the believing acceptance of that teaching. The more heartily we enter into the mind of our blessed Lord, and set ourselves simply …
Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession

To his Praise!
"They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness." THIS chapter is written more than seven years later than the foregoing, in further testimony and praise. Returning to Canada at the time of the Great War, we came face to face with a serious financial crisis. Only two ways seemed open to us. One was to lay our affairs frankly before the Board, showing that our salary was quite insufficient, with war conditions and prices, to meet our requirements. The other course was to just go forward, …
Rosalind Goforth—How I Know God Answers Prayer

The Prayer of Faith.
Text.--"Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."--Mark xi. 24. THESE words have been by some supposed to refer exclusively to the faith of miracles. But there is not the least evidence of this. That the text was not designed by our Saviour to refer exclusively to the faith of miracles, is proved by the connection in which it stands. If you read the chapter, you will see that Christ and his apostles were at this time …
Charles Grandison Finney—Lectures on Revivals of Religion

The Fourth Rule of Prayer Is, that Notwithstanding of Our Being Thus Abased and Truly...
The fourth rule of prayer is, that notwithstanding of our being thus abased and truly humbled, we should be animated to pray with the sure hope of succeeding. There is, indeed, an appearance of contradiction between the two things, between a sense of the just vengeance of God and firm confidence in his favour, and yet they are perfectly accordant, if it is the mere goodness of God that raises up those who are overwhelmed by their own sins. For, as we have formerly shown (chap. iii. sec. 1, 2) that …
John Calvin—Of Prayer--A Perpetual Exercise of Faith

Praying Without Doubting
PRAYING WITHOUT DOUBTING ". . . And shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith." -- Mark 11:23 These interesting words are a part of the Saviour's discourse on the power of faith. The disciples were greatly astonished by the power manifested in the Master's words which dried up the fruitless tree from the roots. When Jesus arrested the attention of His disciples by this unusual miracle, He obviously intended …
T. M. Anderson—Prayer Availeth Much

Praying with Desire
PRAYING WITH DESIRE ". . . What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." -- Mark 11:24. These inspiring words of Jesus disclose that He has obligated Himself to satisfy the incessant and insistent desires of His praying people. His words leave no doubt in our minds regarding His willingness to answer our requests. He makes it plain that whatsoever things are required to satisfy our spiritual and temporal needs shall be granted according to the …
T. M. Anderson—Prayer Availeth Much

Prayer and Faith (Continued)
"The guests at a certain hotel were being rendered uncomfortable by repeated strumming on a piano, done by a little girl who possessed no knowledge of music. They complained to the proprietor with a view to having the annoyance stopped. 'I am sorry you are annoyed,' he said. 'But the girl is the child of one of my very best guests. I can scarcely ask her not to touch the piano. But her father, who is away for a day or so, will return tomorrow. You can then approach him, and have the matter set right.' …
Edward M. Bounds—The Necessity of Prayer

May one Know that He is Filled?
The question is often asked--How am I to know when I am filled with the Holy Ghost? 1. You may know it from the testimony of the written Word. "All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them" (Mark xi. 24). From this you know, that if you have, up to your light, fulfilled the conditions necessary to the filling of the Holy Ghost, on praying and asking for the Fullness, it is your privilege to believe that you have received what you have …
John MacNeil—The Spirit-Filled Life

Eleventh Lesson. Believe that Ye have Received;'
Believe that ye have received;' Or, The Faith that Takes. Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them.'--Mark xi. 24 WHAT a promise! so large, so Divine, that our little hearts cannot take it in, and in every possible way seek to limit it to what we think safe or probable; instead of allowing it, in its quickening power and energy, just as He gave it, to enter in, and to enlarge our hearts to the measure of what …
Andrew Murray—With Christ in the School of Prayer

Fourteenth Lesson. When Ye Stand Praying, Forgive;'
When ye stand praying, forgive;' Or, Prayer and Love. And whensoever ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any one; that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.'--Mark xi. 25. THESE words follow immediately on the great prayer-promise, All things whatsoever ye pray, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them.' We have already seen how the words that preceded that promise, Have faith in God,' taught us that in prayer all depends …
Andrew Murray—With Christ in the School of Prayer

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