SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/24/2023 9:50 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “The
Principle”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matt. 21:20-22
Message of the verses: “20 And seeing this,
the disciples marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither at
once?" 21 And Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly I say to you,
if you have faith, and do not doubt, you shall not only do what was done to the
fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the
sea,’ it shall happen. 22 “And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you
shall receive.’”
In our last SD we began this section of “The
Principle” in which Jesus teaches His disciples, and those of us who read this
what the principle of His cursing the fig tree was all about. MacArthur writes “The Lord took the
opportunity to teach them about the power of faith joined to the purpose and
will of God, which can do far more than instantly wither a fig tree.” Yes I ended with that quote in our last SD,
but thought it would be a good place to begin this one.
It
was in response to their bewilderment Jesus answered and said to them,
"Truly I say to you, if you have faith, and do not doubt, you shall not
only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be
taken up and cast into the sea,’ it shall happen.”
I mentioned in our last SD that there are people who
read this and think that God is obligated to answer their prayers on the basis
of these verses. John MacArthur writes “Jesus
obviously was speaking figuratively He never used His own power, nor did the
apostles ever use the miraculous powers He gave them, to perform spectacular
but useless supernatural feats. It was
precisely that sort of grandiose demonstration that He refused to give to the
unbelieving scribes and Pharisees who wanted to see a sign from Him (Matt.
12:38). Jesus had already performed
countless miracles of healing, many of which they probably had witnessed. And He performed many more such miracles that
they could easily have witnessed. But
the sign they wanted was on a grand scale, one in which fire would come down
from heaven or the sun would stand still as it had for Joshua. The literal casting of a mountain…into the
sea would have been just the sort of sign the scribes and Pharisees wanted to
see but were never shown.
“The
phrase ‘rooter up of mountains’ was a metaphor commonly used in Jewish
literature of a great teacher or spiritual leader. In the Babylonian Talmud, for example, the
great rabbis are called ‘rooters up of mountains.’ Such people could solve great problems and
seemingly do the impossible.”
This
is the idea that Jesus had in mind I think that He was saying “I want you to
know that you have unimaginable power available to you through your faith in
Me. If you sincerely believe, without
doubting, it shall happen, and you will see great powers of God at work.” Here is what the Lord said to His disciples
at the Last Supper: “Whatever you ask in
My name, I will do it” (John 14:13-14).
The requirement for receiving is to ask in Jesus’ name, that is,
according to His purpose and His will.”
This is very important to remember when a believer is praying, and the
more that a person studies the Bible, the better they will understand that
praying in the will of the Son is not just asking for things that are not in
His will, as you will better understand the things that are in the will of the
Lord. Also things may not happen right
away, but if it is the will of the Lord then you are praying in the right way.
6/24/2023 10:31 AM
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