Faith That God Can Do Anything

This month has been all about living our lives according to God’s plan. We have discussed how He can make a way even when we don’t see how there is a way. We talked about how to hear His plan for our lives, we have to put Him above everything else and we have to settle our busyness so that we can hear Him. The next thing we must have in our hearts and in the center of our lives is faith that God can do anything.

In Matthew 21, Jesus is walking with His disciples in the early morning, and they are very hungry. They see a fig tree on the side of the road and Jesus goes up to it. He sees that it is not producing any fruit and only has leaves on it. He then says to the tree, “May you never bear fruit again,” and the tree withers right then and there. The disciples are puzzled and amazed. They wonder how a tree could automatically wither with just Jesus’ words. In my mind, I wonder why He would kill the tree because it wasn’t bearing any fruit. Maybe it was going through a rough season or maybe it wasn’t getting a lot of water. Surely there was a reason the tree was not producing any figs.

Jesus goes on to tell His disciples, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Jesus was not simply angry with that individual fig tree; He was teaching a lesson about faith and prayer. Jesus was not saying that prayer is a form of magic and gives us the ability to do crazy things such as moving an actual mountain. He was wanting them to see their lack of faith. What kinds of mountains do you have in your life? Just by praying for a certain mountain to be moved does not mean that it will be done exactly how we want it to. But if we keep our prayers in line with God’s plans, we will be amazed at what can be done.

Jesus was teaching His disciples about the power of prayer and having faith in their prayers. The more we pray, the more our prayers line up with God’s plans. The more we go to Him first and sit quietly, the more our ears are tuned to hear Him. We can’t just appear to have faith by going to church, reading our Bible, and saying we are a Christian. We can’t just look good from a distance. We must bear the fruit of having faith and putting it into action. If we don’t put our faith into action, then we are just like the fig tree that did not bear any fruit.

I have lived the life of not putting faith into action and those were very dark days for me. It was like I was playing tug of war constantly. I would pray for something, and then the next hour I would doubt that it would be answered because I doubted myself or the people involved. I doubted that God truly had the power to change circumstances because I thought I still had control. Along with every other aspect of surrendering to God, faith and surrender goes hand in hand. You will always play that game of tug of war if you do not completely surrender all control over to God and simply have faith in who He is and His sovereign power.

What does it look like to put faith into action?

Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1). There are two parts to faith, confidence and assurance. We must have confidence in who God is—His character and His attributes. We must believe that He truly is who He says He is. Then we must believe that He keeps His promises—what He says will happen. We may not see His promises materializing yet, but we must believe that one day they will be fulfilled, in His perfect timing. God is trustworthy, true, righteous, a promise keeper, and a way maker. He wants what is good for us. We may not always see the good that He sees immediately, but we can trust that His plan is in our best interest and for HIs glory. I once heard that some answers to prayer are best seen in the rearview mirrors of our lives. We may not see the good in them right away, but if we look back, we can see how God took care of us with such loving answers to prayers.

Have faith, my friend, in your prayers, in God’s answers, and when you hear Him speak to your heart. He is trying to lead you. Believe in Him and where He is leading you.

“We live by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7

“Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” Mark 10:27

“As for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.” Micah 7:7

Digging Deeper:

What makes your faith dwindle?

What could you do to make your faith stronger?

Who do you believe God to be? Can you trust that with all your heart and keep your faith in Him?