Trinity Baptist Church

The Book of Mark

Keys to Effective Prayer

Mark 11:22-25

 

Tonight we come to Mark 11, verses 22 to 25.  What happens in these verses is right in the middle of the Passion Week of Christ. He has entered into the city of Jerusalem and cleansed the temple and the time of His arrest and crucifixion are quickly approaching.   So these are the last days of our Lord’s life and ministry.

 

Mark 11:20-25

 

Now obviously the subject here is prayer.  And at first glance you might think this is an odd place to do a lesson on prayer. Surely there are more pertinent things to talk about.  After all, Jesus is about to die and be resurrected and ascend back to heaven and all that.  But as I hope you will see, this lesson is absolutely critical and it’s critical at this particular juncture.

 

And you will notice that nothing Jesus says here is new. Everything He says here He has said somewhere else, and probably many times not that are not recorded. This is very familiar information.

So why this lesson on prayer that offers nothing new and why now?

 

Well, let’s think about that.  For three years, the disciples had lived in the presence of God Himself, God in human flesh. Anything they needed, He provided. And I think that, in and of itself, is damaging to their prayer life.

 

After all, why pray to God hoping to be heard when you could just grab Jesus by the arm and know you were heard? He could and did provide any and everything they needed.  If they needed protection from the storm, just cry out to Jesus!  When they needed direction, He provided that. When they needed food, He provided that. When they needed wisdom, He provided that.

 

And maybe the reason their prayer life is not what it ought to be is because of that obvious reality that He was there to provide everything they needed.  And if you want to know their attitude about prayer and it’s importance, just go to prayer meeting with them in the Garden and watch them sleep.  It just wasn’t that big of a deal. 

 

But things are about to drastically change because they will go from having the Son of God there within arm’s reach, to not having Him there at all. And prayer is about to take on a brand new significance and perspective for them. 

 

For us, all we’ve ever known is prayer.  We’ve never had Jesus around physically to talk to. No matter what it is that we need or desire from God, it always goes up in the form of prayer.  But not so with them. They’re going to become like us, but this will be a dramatic alteration of their lives.

 

And this text at this time in this week tells us how important the lesson is to learn.  All of heaven’s resources are at the disposal of the believer who prays. What a great lesson and what a great promise.

 

 

Now at first glance, the transition from what happens in verses 20 and 21 to what happens in verses 22 and following seems awkward.  It’s almost like Mark must have left something out.  Peter is talking about the fig tree being cursed and withering and in resonse, Jesus starts talking about faith and prayer.  

 

So what’s the connection? Well the connection and the message here is , first of all, judgment is coming and the cursing of the fig tree was a demonstration of the power of judgment. Just as Jesus by a word could kill a tree, roots and all, the power of God was a formidable reality.

 

But how does that segue way into, “Have faith in God.”? Matthew gives us the answer in his version f the story. 

 

Matthew 21:20 records that Peter also asked the question, “How did the fig tree immediately wither away?”

 

And the thrust of Peter’s question seems to be, “How does that kind of power work?”  After all, he’s seen thousands of positive miracles, but this is the first thing he’s seen like this. He’s startled that it is dead. How does this happen?

 

And the response Jesus gives is, verse 22, “Have faith in God.” In other words, such displays of the power of God, whether they are negative or positive, come from God.  And then He begins to talk about how to access God’s power.  They’re going to need to know this. No longer will Jesus be around all the time. So now are they going to draw on divine power like that when He’s not around?

 

Jesus then gives them five components, we might call them necessities or keys, for powerful, effective prayer. Let’s look at them.

 

First of all, powerful, effective prayer has

 

 

Verse 20

 

“Peter remembering. . .”  He is saying, I have seen the display of Your power.  One of the key ingredients of effective prayer is remembering.  When we pray, we need to get historical. 

 

Peter thought back on what he’d witnessed and said, “What an amazing display of the power of God!  The fig tree You cursed has withered.”

 

The historical foundation of an effective prayer life is to understand that God has put His power on display in the past and you’re aware of it. And notice, back in verse 14, although the disciples heard Jesus curse the tree, they didn’t know it had withered until they passed back by. 

 

And when Peter saw what had happened, it casues him to reflect back on the power that has accomplished such a thing. 

 

That’s a good way to begin your prayer time.  What an encouragement to pray!  When it came time for the children of Israel to enter the promised land after all their years in Egypt and then forty years of wandering in the wilderness, they were instructed to remember the God who delivered them out of Egypt.

They could think back to the Red Sea and the mann and the water from a rock and all the things God had done for them. 

 

Remembering is the foundation of effective prayer.  And I will just tell you this, the more you remember, the stronger your confidence in God.

 

Even brand new believers with no history whatsoever, can remember back to their conversion and His grace and goodness and mercy. 

 

So the historical element is to remember and the more you have to remember biblically, historically, and personally, the stronger the foundation of your confidence in prayer.

 

Secondly, there’s

 

 

verse 22

 

“Have faith in God.”  There we find the theology of prayer.  And I want to make a very important distinction.  The emphasis of the phrase is not on faith, but on God.  The effectiveness of your prayer life is not determined by the size of your faith, but by the character of your God.

 

If you want to have an effective prayer life, then you must trust God. You must trust His power.  You must trust His purpose.  You must trust His promise and His plans and His will. In other words, you have to trust that He knows better than you do.  Trust God.

 

 

In the disciple’s prayer when the disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray,” He said, “Pray this way. Our Father who ar tin heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done.” That’s how you pray. “God, whatever honors Your name, advances Your Kingdom, and accomplishes Your will, that’s what I pray.” That’s how you really pray.

 

Trust God.  Trust your life to Him.  Trust your circumstances to Him. The believer who prays with a sense of history and understands the power of God and the believer who prays with a great sense of trust and understands that the best of all things is the will of God will pray effectively. 

 

This is so important for these men to learn because life was going to take a dramatic turn. They are going to need God’s power and they must learn to trust Him. 

 

Thirdly, there is

 

 

verse 23

 

Focus on the word “believes”.  That is the spiritual component of prayer.  Now this is an amazing verse because it is letting us know that in spite of the fact that something seems too much, too outlandish, too outrageous, too over the top, too much to give, too much to offer, too big, it’s true. This is exactly what God means.

 

And notice that Jesus makes it very personal.  Did you see that in verse 23?  “I say to you.”

  I like that, don’t you? I see me in there somewhere and all of you.  Whoever.  You don’t have to be some big shot Christian to get your prayers answered. 

 

And notice the illustration He uses.  “Whoever says to this mountain...”

 

Now as you can imagine, people have written pages and pages on what mountain it is. Some say, well He’s using it symbolically or it’s just a hypothetical story.  It’s an allegory or a symbolism. 

 

Maybe, but since He’s standing on a mountain when He says it, maybe it’s the mountain He’s standing on. Some people think it’s the Mount of Olives. Some suggest it was the Mount of Olives or the Temple Mount. 

 

I don’t know what mountain He’s talking about and it doesn’t really matter.  Just think about the principle: 

 

 “Whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and 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 asks.”

 

So is that a literal statement?  You could test it, if you want.  And I guess I’m doubting it, but I really don’t think it’s going to work. Stand in front of any mountain you choose, talk to it all you want to, but it’s not likely to get up into the air and go out over the ocean. And by the way, Jesus never did  anything like that in His life and ministry.

 

Now that’s not to say God couldn’t do it, but I’m not convinced that’s what He’s telling them to do.

 

So what is He teaching?  I think He is using the mountain as an analogy.  He’s using a common communication technique to make His point.  Much like we might say someone is an “earth mover or shaker”, He uses this picture to describe the spiritual side of prayer in dealing with the really difficult things we encounter. 

 

These disciples, just like you and me, were going to be faced with some serious issues that seemed to have no human solutions.  And Jesus is saying, “When those things come along, you should pray reflect on the power of God, trust Him and ask without doubting for what you need.  It will be given to you.”

 

And by the way, the doubt is not doubt of our faith, but doubt of God.  You better doubt the power of your faith and you better doubt the power of your words because they’re impotent. The power is with God. We’re not talking about doubting you, we’re talking about doubting Him.

 

The issue here is whether you believe God, or whether you doubt God. Don’t doubt. Believe and believe that what He says is going to happen and it will be granted him.

 

the spiritual component is to believe.

 

Fourthly,

 

 

verse 24

 

That’s rather obviouis, isn’t it?  The practical component of effective prayer is asking. 

 

And notice he continues by saying, “Believe that you have received them.” That speaks of something in the future as if it’s already happened. Is that how you ask? 

 

At first reading, that sounds like a dream come true doesn’t it?  Just ask and receive whatever you want.  It is only when the qualifiers we find in others places are added that it makes sense. 

 

James 4:3, “You ask and you don’t receive because you ask to consume it on your own desires.”

 

The Lord praying in the Garden, prayed for God’s will to be done. 

 

The Lord understands our cries. He understands the cry for healing. He understands the cry for a better marriage. He understands the cry of the heart over children that rebel.  He understands the struggles with money and finances and He understands all that. He understands all that and He holds you in His heart and He will never forsake You and He will never withhold any good thing from you and all things will work together for your good if you faithfully ask.

 

But at the end, you can pour out your heart to Him, you can storm heaven but always with this qualifying statement, “Nevertheless, not my will, but Your be done.” Why? His is greater, purer, wiser, more generous, more gracious, more merciful than anything you can ever, ever imagine.

 

There’s one final necessity in effective, powerful prayer in this text. There’s a historical component to remember, a theological component to trust, spiritual component to believe, a practical component to ask and there’s

 

 

verses 25-26

 

If we will pray effectively, we’ve got to deal with the sin in our heart. Now that could take a while!  If when I want to pray to the Lord, I’ve got to get rid of all the sin in my life, that could be a long, drawn-out process because I’m never going to be what I ought to be and there’s always going to be sin lurking somewhere there.

 

So the Lord just says, “Let me make it simple for you. Forgive. If you have anything against anyone, get over it.”  In fact, the word “forgive” means “hurl it away.  Get rid of it.”

 

Why should I do that?  “So that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions.”

 

This isn’t talking about salvation. We’ve already had the judicial forgiveness of salvation. This is talking about the sins that are part of your life as a believer that stand between you and the Lord.

 

If there is something between someone else and me, then I’ve got to deal with that because if I don’t, then things can’t be right with God and me.  And if there is something between God and me, then He will not hear and respond to my prayer. 

 

So here’s the moral component in effective prayer.  So here’s your choice. Hold a grudge or have your prayers answered. Hold a grudge or bring down heaven’s power. It’s your choice.

 

What a promise. It is our privilege to call on the Lord in believing prayer, consistent with His will and purpose, and that’s all we would want anyway. And He does it. We have the privilege of looking back at His power and faithfulness, and in believing faith, asking our Heavenly father to take care of us and work in and through us to do that which we cannot do ourselves. 

 

May God help us to pray without ceasing. 

 

Let’s pray.