To establish context, we will quote verses 18-22. "Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered. And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away! Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."
From this lesson we learn, again, that through faith, and by prayer, all things are possible for those who believe in Jesus Christ.
The fig tree was no more than a nuisance to Jesus, but He condemned to die without pause. This demonstrates two things; The first is that the fig tree could easily represent mankind in that if the tree, or the man/woman it represents, fails to bear fruit for Jesus, it is useless and will therefore be eternally destroyed. The second lesson is that no matter how trivial we might think our needs to be, if we simply pray with ABSOLUTE FAITH that our requests will be granted, and if our request is within the will of God, our request will be granted.
I capitalized absolute faith to stress the point that in order to receive desired answers to our prayers, we must demonstrate an unwavering faith.
Many pray like the man who went to bed and prayed that overnight the Lord would put, for him, a new car in his driveway, then got up the next morning, looked out the window, an said, "Just as I thought, no new car!"
If we pray over and over again for the same thing, we demonstrate a total lack of faith. If you truly believe that God answers the prayers of the faithful, then, by all means be faithful. Pray for what you want then leave it alone! God is omniscient, He will NOT forget that you prayed, nor will He forget why you prayed!
If we truly have faith in Jesus Christ, our deeds are presented to God as righteousness. Romans 4:4-8, "Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will NOT impute sin."
Through the righteousness imputed, by Christ, into those of us who believe, we, unlike the fig tree, demonstrate that imputed righteousness and thereby bear fruit sufficient to eternal life.~
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