Walking on Water (ii)

Picking up from where we left off with our series of Walking on Water, today we look at the narration of Jesus and the barren fig tree. Jesus had been travelling from Bethany with His disciples and we read from scripture that He was hungry, so He approached a nearby fig-tree hoping to eat its fruit (Mark 11:12-14). The common misconception has always been that it had not been the fruit bearing season for the tree, but that would assume that Jesus was unreasonable in His expectation for fruit as He approached it. No! Back in the day, how one would be able to tell that a fig tree had fruit by the presence of its green leaves; if the tree had leaves, it had fruit – but that was not the case here. We read, “And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves” (Mark 11:13) – the tree was projecting a false impression of what it carried. Important to note here, was that this one act of barrenness, which was against the laws of times and seasons, was directly communicating something to Jesus, who had come in need of something to eat. And Jesus, who was well aware of the communication from the tree and had something to say of His own, did not hold back: “… Let no one eat fruit from you ever again” (v.14). His disciples heard Him place the curse and they moved on with their journey. 

Further down the passage, we read, “Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots” (v.20). Time had passed, showing us that it is not always that the power of God manifests instantly to our satisfaction. Some things will not happen quickly and we will not always understand the dynamics of everything involved – that is why faith is observed by patience over a long period of time. But our microwave generation has failed to exercise the muscle of faith, depriving itself of the endurance that is needed to live a victorious life. We also see that out of them all, it was Peter who recalled the Lord’s words from the previous day; he cried out, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away” (v.21). This shows that Peter kept the Word of God perpetually in his mind, he did not allow himself to forget! And Jesus, noting his shock and his implied unbelief, said to His followers “Have faith in God” (v.22) – the Lord knew that Peter was surprised because he had not yet accepted the power of God. The Lord continued, “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” (v.23). Jesus made it clear that every obstacle has a name and should be called out with specificity for it to respond. This practice of generalising speech and prayer is not effective, and we should be bold enough to directly address all our challenges in the face and by their name. Also noteworthy, is that He never said to speak to God about your mountain, but rather to speak directly to your mountain with the faith you have in the power of God and the immutability of His counsel. 

The Lord said the war is won by the contents of our belief, and we must know that this belief is affected by the things we say. This is where a lot of us get it wrong; today we speak faith and tomorrow we speak doubt, confessing things contrary to what we are believing God for. What we need to understand is that words paint pictures in our hearts, and there is no word that carries no significance. The human heart is responsible for the calibration of faith, that is why we cannot constantly say things we do not mean and think that our heart will be tuned to believing our words. When we make a habit of speaking things we do not believe, we train the heart to never believe anything we say, and on the day we need the heart to believe, we find that it is programmed to unbelief. That is why we read, “A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled. Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof” (Proverbs 18:20-21) – showing us that there must always be an increase in the words that we speak if we want to see the manifestation of a particular outcome in our lives. It is through the abundance of our words that we will be filled. And additionally, it is made clear that life and death are in the power of the tongue, and what we need to note is that it is our heart system that dies slowly but surely when we continually speak words of unbelief. We literally kill our ability to believe with our idle words, and we are then found wanting on the day of battle. 

In closing, it is important that we remember to be wise and ensure that what we are believing God for is within the confines of His will – we can only move mountains that need to be moved! The power of God is not meant for the satisfaction of human lusts and meaningless quests! Jesus concluded, “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses” (Mark 11:25-26). Contaminations of unforgiveness in the heart have the ability to short circuit our walk of faith! Let us be well rounded and balanced as we exercise our belief unto great exploits in Christ Jesus!

Prayer

Father, we thank You for Your Word and the testimony of Your Spirit, that teaches and assures us of who You are. You are a good God and father, who loves His children endlessly and without reservation. You are God Almighty, supreme in all Your ways and matchless in power. Aligning ourselves with You statutes, plans and purposes is our surest way to victory. You are our guaranteed success! We bless You. In the mighty name of Jesus, Amen!