WHAT ARE YOU REALLY PUTTING YOUR FAITH IN?

Mark 11:20-26

²⁰ In the morning as they were passing by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. ²¹ Then Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” ²² Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. ²³ I guarantee you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. ²⁴ So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. ²⁵ “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in the sky may also forgive you your wrongdoings.” ^26[1]

faith in God

It’s surprisingly easy to slip into an animistic way of reading this passage—as though faith were some kind of spiritual electricity we can generate if we grit our teeth hard enough. Plenty of teachers still talk this way, as if faith were a force we wield rather than a relationship we live in. But that is not what Jesus was showing His disciples. He didn’t curse the fig tree because He was flexing some inner power. He did it because the Father willed it. His faith was not in faith; His faith was in God.

So when Peter pointed out the withered tree, Jesus didn’t congratulate him for noticing the “power of belief.” He said something far more grounding: Have faith in God. The source behind every answered prayer is not the intensity of our believing—it is the sovereignty of our God. That’s why unforgiveness can hinder prayer. It’s not that we’ve jammed the gears of some spiritual machine. It’s that a holy and relational God is watching, and He will not put His power on display to reward a heart that refuses to reflect His mercy.

The animist trusts in power words—phrases that supposedly carry magic in themselves. Say them correctly, repeat them enough times, and the universe must obey. But Christians have no such vocabulary. We don’t chant our way into miracles. We don’t manipulate heaven with formulas. Our confidence is not in syllables but in Someone. The power in our lives flows from our relationship with God, and prayer is always an expression of that relationship.

When the mountain moves, it is the Holy Spirit who deserves the glory. And when the mountain stays put, we don’t blame our technique or assume our faith was too weak. We turn again to God, trusting that His wisdom, His timing, and His purposes are better than our own. We have renounced the world’s magic. We belong to a Father, not a force.

LORD, strengthen our resolve to place our faith in You alone, and never in the illusion of our own power.

[1] some manuscripts add ει δε υμεις ουκ αφιετε, ουδε ο πατηρ υμων ο εν τοις ουρανοις αφησει τα παραπτωματα υμων.