"Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him." - Mark 11:23 (ESV)
For a while now, I’ve wrestled with the hope found in “God will meet you at your level of expectation” and the disappointment of “God didn’t come through with what I asked of Him.” I’ve been caught in the tension of “pray big prayers!” and “God didn’t do what I wanted.” I held tightly the hope I had as my vision of the future pulverized before my eyes: that relationship, that community, that sense of normalcy and consistency. Maybe for you today, it’s a medical diagnosis or a financial situation. You don’t understand or see a logical way out.
There are only so many encouraging statements people can say to slap a Band-Aid over a deeper wound. Words can encourage, but they don’t always provide a solution or a way out. Then we come across passages in the Bible about miracles and believing. When we feel discouraged, it can sound too good to be true. Friend, if you feel that way, know that it was never God’s intention for us to be brokenhearted. We live in a sin-infested world that doesn’t relent in disappointing us.
One of those miracle-believing-hopeful verses can be found if you flip your Bible to Mark 11:23, Jesus says this:“Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.”
I want to first start by asking you to raise your hand if you’ve seen this quote taken out of context on a coffee cup. Our individualistic, what’s-in-it-for-me culture twists Jesus’s intentions here. We might think Jesus is giving us the confirmation that, when we fully believe in anything we ask, God will definitely and immediately do it. And if it doesn’t go according to plan, we assume we must have a lack of faith or a strong presence of doubt in our souls.
This is why we must not tie our hope to partial truths. Let’s look deeper into the context and the conversation. In Mark 11, Jesus curses a fruitless fig tree, cleanses the temple, and returns to the now withered plant. (You can also read this story in Matthew 21.) Pay attention to the conversation between Jesus and the disciples when they return to the tree:
“As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” - Mark 11:20-25 (ESV)
1. Let’s look at the order of recorded events:
In between the cursing of the fig tree and this confirmation, Jesus cleanses the Lord’s holy temple. Besides going in chronological order, why would the disciples choose to include the detail about the temple in between?
Maybe to emphasize that the people’s affections were not right. They didn’t value the Lord’s temple – His holy place. They made it a “den of robbers” instead of a house of prayer and worship (v. 17). To Jesus, it was evident that the people’s hearts were out of alignment. Their priorities became distorted through the lens of a broken world. They chose sin over sacrifice, pleasure instead of praise. Their level of expectation and their belief in God was not demonstrated in their character. Jesus used the fig tree to depict His authority, to give them no reason to not believe.
Whether we see it or not, friend, we are still like them today. We may not be profaning our church buildings, but we could be mistreating the temples of our bodies and impurifying our minds in worldly pleasures. We struggle to trust God fully, so we settle for what we can control. Where is our belief? Are we fully convinced of God’s character or are we confining ourselves to our own control?
2. Now, let’s go back to our key passage:
Remember, Jesus spoke to his disciples in a town and culture that lacked faith. He sought to use his disciples to encourage those very people, who lacked a desire to glorify God in His own temple.
In verse 23, Jesus isn’t telling them to pray to get what they want. He’s instead encouraging them to seek the Lord. Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown assert that it is “not physical but moral obstacles to the progress of His kingdom…what He designed to teach was the great lesson, that no obstacle should be able to stand before a confiding faith in God.”[1]
While God could move a mountain into the sea if He wanted to, Jesus used this image to show what radical, wholehearted belief in Him looks like. It means to have nothing standing in the way of your relationship with God or your belief that God can do any and all things. Jesus is encouraging us that God hears our prayers, that He remembers them, and that we have no reason to doubt. This doesn’t mean to say that God will answer our prayers exactly in the way we want; He isn’t a genie with unlimited wishes that come true when we pray to Him. What Jesus is saying is that we can pray big prayers with expectancy because God is sovereign and can do everything.
3. Will God do this…or is it not a part of His will?
As I mentioned earlier, there’s a tension between asking God for big things and feeling disappointed when He doesn’t do exactly what we want. God could have done it, but He chose not to. Why?
Maybe He wanted to provide for you in a different way than He has before.
Maybe He wanted to grow you in ways you never knew possible.
Maybe He was working on the details for it to be better than you could have imagined.
Maybe He wanted to protect you from getting hurt.
We may never understand God’s ways, but we can trust that His ways are higher (Isaiah 55:8-9). His sovereign will is ultimately what will come to pass. Sometimes it’s exactly what we want. Other times, reality may be the exact opposite of what we prayed for. Regardless, God is allowing it for a reason and His purpose is for our good (Romans 8:28).
Grassmick explains that “Jesus exhorted His disciples to believe that they have already received whatever they request in prayer. Faith accepts it as good as done even though the actual answer is still future.”[2] When we have faith and completely believe that God will come through – in one way or another, for our greater good – we possess an unwavering confidence. We no longer worry about the details because we know God hears, sees, knows, cares, and already has the path paved out for us. We fully trust in God, assured that He is taking care of the details as we seek Him. We don’t have to know the way when we know the One who is the way.
With this fearless faith, we can trust God’s will, even if it isn’t what we would have wanted. Grassmick continues, “Jesus made this promise on the recognized premise that petitions must be in harmony with God’s will…This enables faith to receive the answers God gives. God is always ready to respond to obedient believers’ prayers, and they can petition Him knowing that no situation or difficulty is impossible for Him.”[2]
Friend, will you partner with me in prayer, knowing that God can do all things? God may not answer us in the ways we want or expect, but we can rest assured that He will do something for our good. He sees and knows what we don’t. We may never see the harm He protects us from. We can ask these tremendous prayers, knowing that God hears them. We will praise Him when the miracle comes, and we will still praise Him if it never does. His ways are higher and His will is what’s best.
Think back to Mesach, Shadrach, and Abednego when King Nebuchadnezzar threatened to throw them into the fiery furnace. They responded with a faith that knew no limits.
“If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Daniel 3:17-18, ESV).
They expected God to move and He did. God protected them even being touched by the flames.
Think back to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane when He prayed to the Father “not my will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). God didn’t protect Jesus from the cross, as painful and horrific as it was. He didn’t come through as one might expect. But there was a greater purpose: for salvation to be possible for all of humanity.
If God answers your big prayer, know that I’m cheering you on and praising Him with you.
If He doesn’t come through as you asked, know that there’s a greater purpose behind what He did and didn’t allow. Your story may be one to walk through, so that God can use you in a new way than He has before. What you asked for wasn’t in His sovereign will, but as a Good Father, He’s going to provide for your every need as He carries you to what’s next.
God won’t give us our every want, but He will supply our every need. When our desires align with His will, His ways, and His timing, they will come to pass. (see Philippians 4:19, Psalm 37:4).
4. Practical Next Steps
As we wrestle with this topic and seek God in all things, here are some helpful action steps to take:
- Instead of “why didn’t God do this?”, ask “what is God protecting me from?”
- Pay attention to what God is doing instead of what He is not doing. How is He moving? How is He speaking to you? He may be trying to get your attention in a way that is different from what you’re used to. Ask God for eyes to see and ears to hear Him.
- Raise your level of expectation: if God didn’t do what you asked, what better could He be doing for you? How is He providing for you today? How can you prepare to receive that blessing in the meantime?
- Believe He can. He will answer your prayers – either a yes, no, or not yet. He can move the mountain into the sea, but sometimes we are too afraid or too prideful to ask. If He doesn’t do it now, He’ll do something greater in His timing. Have faith in Him!
- If you’re struggling with doubt, go back to every time God answered a prayer for you before – think about how He provided for you, where He protected you, and how far He carried you.
And…a free resource!
As we learned, prayer and belief are closely knit. We must choose to approach God with expectancy and be attentive to His responses. Colossians 4:2 says “Be persistent in prayer, and keep alert as you pray, giving thanks to God.” (GNT). When you’re struggling with belief, faith, or doubt, praying big prayers may seem hopeless. But it’s not.
I created the “Persisting in Prayer” guide to help you notice and remember how God has responded to your prayer requests. If you notice, in Mark 11, Peter remembers the curse Jesus put on the fig tree when he saw it again, now withered in response to Jesus’s command. Peter recalled Jesus’s words when he had a tangible reminder. Maybe all we need is to remember the evidence of God’s work, too.
Use this “Persisting in Prayer” guide to to help you:
- Note your prayer requests
- Attach Scripture promises to your prayers
- Document any time you see God working in your situation
- Observe if God is speaking to you in a way that is different than before
- Raise your level of belief and expectation
Download your free copy here! Let me know if this resource helps you in the comments below or on Instagram @michelle_martino_
Reflect:
Are you fully believing God to answer your prayer or are you struggling with doubt? Share your thoughts and prayer requests in the comments below, so I can be praying with you.
References:
- Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 83). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
- Grassmick, J. D. (1985). Mark. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, pp. 158–159). Victor Books.
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