Have Faith!

One of these times I do this, I will remember to write down where I found the Obscure Biblical Character, instead of paging through four books to find him. And he is… Peter!

Mark 11:14 In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” And His disciples heard it.

So Jesus cursed this tree. The disciples all heard Him do this. (He did it because the tree was deceptive and had leaves but no fruit). Which leads to our big scene and the Jesus line we learn from it:

Mark 11:20-24 Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.”

So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this
mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will have them.”

The simple message of today’s study is this: have faith, and don’t be surprised when what God says will happen, happens. He’s God, He knows what He’s doing.

The more complicated message of today is the second part of Jesus’ words, about answered prayers. A lot of people doubt God because of these verses. ‘God didn’t give me a million dollars when I asked Him,’ or something to that effect is what they say. This can be rebutted by saying that God does everything in His own time, by asking if s/he truly believed God would give them that million dollars, or by pointing out the next words that Jesus said, in Mark 11:25-26. After all, if we are praying to God and He has a reason to hold something against you (i.e. sin, non-saved-ness), He won’t respond.

So this next week’s Obscure Biblical Character, who’s name and verse will be written down somewhere is:
-a older woman
-made semi-famous for giving birth to a very famous baby in the New Testament
-married to a priest

We’re bringing back the poll for this one, which will be about the woman’s first name. If she isn’t obscure, my horrible hints make it difficult, I hope.

We have exactly one week until Christmas Eve. I hope and pray you will have a good rest of the week and beginning of next as we all prepare for Christmas.
In His Service,
Joyce