Marcos 11
Charles Spurgeon · Citado em PreceptAustin
Marcos 11
Spurgeon - Morning and Evening - “Have faith in God.”—Mark 11:22 Faith is the foot of the soul by which it can march along the road of the commandments. Love can make the feet move more swiftly; but faith is the foot which carries the soul. Faith is the oil enabling the wheels of holy devotion and of earnest piety to move well; and without faith the wheels are taken from the chariot, and we drag heavily. With faith I can do all things; without faith I shall neither have the inclination nor the power to do anything in the service of God. If you would find the men who serve God the best, you must look for the men of the most faith. Little faith will save a man, but little faith cannot do great things for God. Poor Little-faith could not have fought “Apollyon;” it needed “Christian” to do that. Poor Little-faith could not have slain “Giant Despair;” it required “Great-heart’s” arm to knock that monster down. Little faith will go to heaven most certainly, but it often has to hide itself in a nut-shell, and it frequently loses all but its jewels. Little-faith says, “It is a rough road, beset with sharp thorns, and full of dangers; I am afraid to go;” but Great-faith remembers the promise, “Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; as thy days, so shall thy strength be:” and so she boldly ventures. Little-faith stands desponding, mingling her tears with the flood; but Great-faith sings, “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee:” and she fords the stream at once. Would you be comfortable and happy? Would you enjoy religion? Would you have the religion of cheerfulness and not that of gloom? Then “have faith in God.” If you love darkness, and are satisfied to dwell in gloom and misery, then be content with little faith; but if you love the sunshine, and would sing songs of rejoicing, covet earnestly this best gift, “great faith.” Mark 11:22 Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. The margin of the a.v. suggests that this command might be rendered, Have the faith of God. As long as I live I shall remember this text in connection with my first meeting with Hudson Taylor. He was to preach for me on a Sunday morning, now years ago, and gave out this as his text. But he said that he had always interpreted it as dealing rather with God’s faith to us than ours to Him; so that it ran thus: Reckon on God’s faithfulness. 1. We must be sure that we are on God’s plan. — There is a prepared path for us, along which God has stored up all necessary supplies. But if we want those supplies, we must find and follow it. Along the track which he has marked out between this and Home, our Father has erected cairns full of provisions; but we must let his route prevail over our own notions and wishes, if we are to enjoy his preparations. 2. We must be prepared to wait on Him.—For these things He will be inquired of. Though He knows what we need, He expects our humble request, that we may be perpetually reminded of our entire dependence on Him. He sometimes appears to tarry, to draw out our faith and prayer. But He will never utterly fail. 3. We must walk worthily of Him.—God shows Himself strong only on behalf of those whose heart is perfect towards Him. By his enabling grace we must put away the old manner of life, and be renewed in the spirit of our mind, that we may be such whom the great God shall delight to honor. Let such trust Him to the hilt; they will find Him faithful. He will never put us into positions of peril and responsibility, and leave us to take our chance. - Meyer, F. B. Our Daily Homily God-Centered Faith Have faith in God. — Mark 11:22 Today's Scripture: Mark 11:12-24 During difficult times we often lament, “If only I had more faith!” Yet we demonstrate in everyday life that the most important issue is not the amount of our faith but the object of our faith. For instance, whenever we sit down in a chair, we trust that it will support us. Our faith is in the chair, not in how much faith we possess. In Mark 11:12-24, Jesus taught His disciples the importance of having the right object of faith. It began when they overheard Jesus curse a fig tree (v.14). The next morning, Peter exclaimed, “Look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away” (v.21). Jesus replied, “Have faith in God” (v.22). Having declared God as the object of faith, Jesus assured them that they too could pray for and receive amazing results through God-centered faith. And so may we. Often, however, we praise those who have great faith in God. Ian Thomas once preached: “When we congratulate people for having faith in our Creator, we’re really saying that God is so decrepit they’re to be congratulated for believing in Him.” He continued, “To become less conscious of faith, we must become more acquainted with the object of faith.” My faith has found a resting place— Not in device nor creed: I trust the Ever-living One— His wounds for me shall plead. —Edmunds Our faith may not be great but our God is. Mark 11:22 - "The Faith of God" OUR Lord, in the presence of the withered fig tree, said to His disciples: "Have faith in God" (Mark 11:22). Really He said, "Have the faith of God." Then He went on to say, "Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." Now here is a bona-fide promise in black and white, and if we actually believed these words, our lives would be revolutionized until we would almost need to be introduced to ourselves! What kind of faith is this? It is God's faith, not ours. We cannot stir up mountain-moving faith. It is the same faith by which we believe unto salvation (Eph. 2:8). The faith by which we live is the faith of the Son of God, not merely faith in Him (Gal. 2:20). Yet the sinner must will to believe; when he does, God gives him faith to believe. This same faith he must now exercise, and it increases by exercises. And don't forget that it is nourished on the Word of God: "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God" (Rom. 10:17). "Many of them which heard the word believed" (Acts 4:4). This faith desires: "What things soever ye desire." Only those who hunger and thirst after righteousness really are filled, and only those who really desire great things from God ever get them. There is no real concern today, no burden to see mountains move! God's faith forgives. Our Lord goes on to say in Mark 11:25-26 that we are to forgive, and that if we forgive not, our Father will not forgive. We can pray with confidence toward God only when our hearts condemn us not, and an unforgiving spirit does not make for a conscience void of offense. Then God's faith asks: "Every one that asketh receiveth." We are told to ask, seek, knock, which means progressive praying that moves on with importunity until it gets what it seeks. Here is no superficial sentence-praying, but real supplication and intercession. God's faith wills. Jesus said to the Syrophenician woman, "O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt" (Matt. 15:28). When we are fully yielded to God, He works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). He wills through us the things that are in His will, and such things of course we receive. God's faith commands: "Whosoever shall say, Be thou removed." God has told us to command Him concerning the work of His hands (Isa. 45:11). When we pray the prayer of faith we may come boldly, for we speak with the authority of another. God's faith believes. Having asked and commanded, it believes it shall receive. Like Hannah, the believer goes away with his countenance no more sad, resting in the Lord. Like Abraham, he staggers not at the promise of God. God's faith never fails. We are plainly promised that we shall receive. God's faith will remove any mountain God wants moved. A life utterly yielded, fed on the Word, with sin confessed, seeking God's glory—in such a life God will plant a mighty faith that will move mountains. (Vance Havner) Adrian Rogers - Faith must have the right object before it can be real faith. Sometimes people say, "Just have faith. Only believe." Whenever a person says to me, "Just have faith," the first question in my mind is, "Faith in what?" They say, "Only believe." I ask, "Only believe what?" There is no power in faith alone. Don't think there's something mystical or magical about just believing. Your faith is no better than its object. Misplaced faith is dangerous. It is not faith that moves mountains; it is God who moves mountains. W H Griffith-Thomas - Faith as revealed to us in Scripture is of a twofold nature; there is the faith that asks and the faith that accepts; the faith that appeals and the faith that appropriates. This is probably the reason why prayer and thanksgiving are so often associated in the writings of St. Paul. They represent to us the two aspects of faith. Prayer is the faith that asks; thanksgiving is the faith that takes. We lose a great deal in our Christian life by failure to distinguish between these two aspects of faith. We keep on asking, when we ought to commence accepting. "Believe that ye have received, and ye shall have" (Mark 11:24). Twe intimate friends were once lunching together, and after the host had said the usual grace, "For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful," his friend asked him when he was expecting to have that prayer answered. "What do you mean," was the reply. "Why," was the rejoinder, "to my certain knowledge you have been praying for the last twenty-five years to be made thankful: is it not about time that you were thankful?" This friend was trying to illustrate the difference between praying to be made thankful, and saying, "I am thankful." In the same way in the Christian life there comes a time when we should cease asking and commence obtaining. This is the value of the distinction between God's promises and God's facts. The promises are to be pleaded and their fulfilment expected. The facts are to be accepted and their blessings at once used. When we read, "My grace is sufficient for thee," it is not a promise to be pleaded, but a fact to be at once accepted and enjoyed. When we say "The Lord is my shepherd," we are not dealing with a promise or the groundwork of prayer, we are concerned with one of the present realities of the Christian experience. A man kneels down before leaving home in the morning and asks God for grace to be kept every moment that day. Then he rises at once and goes about his work. Has he done all his duty in thus simply asking for grace? There was something more and better that he should have done. He should have given a moment more after asking, for the purpose of taking, by saying to God, "0 my God and Father, I believe that Thou art now giving me the grace that I have asked for; I here and no A take Thy grace." As the hymn aptly puts it, "I take, He undertakes." The faith that takes is the secret of power and blessing, and the more trust of this kind we exercise the more power and the more fulness will come into our Christian life; and day by day we shall live a life of faith and shall say with the Apostle, "I can do all things through Him who is empowering me" (Phil.4:18: Greek), because we are able to say, "The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself for me." Mountains Can Move! Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God." — Mark 11:22 Today's Scripture: Mark 11:20-24 A familiar slogan about prayer is, “Prayer changes things.” But prayer doesn’t do this—God does. Some people think that prayer itself is the source of power, so they “try prayer,” hoping “it will work” for them. In Mark 11, Jesus disclosed one of the secrets behind all true prayer: “Have faith in God.” Not faith in faith, not faith in prayer, but “faith in God” (v.22). Jesus told His disciples they could command a mountain to be cast into the sea, and if they believed it would happen, it would. Jesus then gave them His meaning behind that astonishing promise. He said, “Whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will” (v.24). Jesus was speaking about answered prayer. We can ask and receive answers only if our asking is directed to God in faith and according to His will (1 John 5:14). I’ve often wished that I could move mountains by faith. Having once lived in Switzerland, I’d like God to move the Alps into my backyard in England. But He has done something much more important: He has removed mountains of worry, fear, and resentment from my heart and cast them into oblivion through my faith in Him. He is still in the mountain-moving business! Have faith in God and pray! By: Joanie Yoder When the Spirit prompts the asking, When the waiting heart believes, Then we know of each petition— Everyone who asks receives. —Anon. Faith is the key to answered prayer. The Faithfulness Of God Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God.” —Mark 11:22 Today's Scripture: Mark 11:20-26 Some of Jesus’ words to His disciples about having faith in God leave me wondering if I can ever exercise that level of trust and confidence in prayer. I can’t recall telling a mountain to relocate itself into the ocean and watching it happen. Hudson Taylor, pioneer missionary to China, said that Jesus’ words in Mark 11:22, “Have faith in God,” could be translated, “Hold on to the faithfulness of God.” D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, former pastor of London’s Westminster Chapel, appreciated Taylor’s insight and said: “Faith is holding on to the faithfulness of God and, as long as you do that, you cannot go wrong. Faith does not look at the difficulties. . . . Faith does not look at itself or at the person who is exercising it. Faith looks at God . . . . Faith is interested in God only, and it talks about God and it praises God and it extols the virtues of God. The measure of the strength of a man’s faith, always, is ultimately the measure of his knowledge of God. . . . He knows God so well that he can rest on the knowledge. And it is the prayers of such a man that are answered.” Trust in Him, ye saints, forever— He is faithful, changing never; Neither force nor guile can sever Those He loves from Him. —Kelly Life is not always fair, but God is always faithful. Mark 11:23 "Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. whoever: Mt 17:20 21:21 Lu 17:6 1Co 13:2 says: Mt 14:13 Ro 4:18-25 Heb 11:17-19 Jas 1:5-8 believes that what he says is going to happen: Ps 37:4 Joh 14:13 jN 15:7 Mark 11 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Related Passage Matthew 21:21 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will 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 will happen. MOUNTAIN MOVING FAITH Andrew Murray well said that "Christ actually meant prayer to be the great power by which His church should do its work and the neglect of prayer is the great reason the church has not greater power over the masses in Christian and heathen countries…The power of the church to truly bless rests on intercession: asking and receiving Heavenly gifts to carry to men." Truly (amen) I say to you - This " amen" formula indicates an important truth spoken with authority (an "amen!" so to speak). Amen "gives self-authenticating authority to the words of Jesus." (Akin) Truly I say in Mark - Mk. 3:28; Mk. 8:12; Mk. 9:1; Mk. 9:41; Mk. 10:15; Mk. 10:29; Mk. 11:23; Mk. 12:43; Mk. 13:30; Mk. 14:9; Mk. 14:18; Mk. 14:25; Mk. 14:30; Whoever says to this mountain - Jesus is using hyperbole to make His point, mountain metaphor "representing what appears to be impossible, immovable, something beyond our finite ability! Good! This is where faith begins. Believing faith taps into God‘s power to accomplish His purpose. Again hear Andrew Murray who said, ―We have a God who delights in impossibilities." (Akin) Jesus is following up His command to continually have faith in God. Removing a mountain is a bigger task than blighting a fig tree! Jesus has just responded to the disciples' amazement over His words that withered a tree with the command to have faith in God. Clearly the connection is that the fig tree withered with Jesus' words because of the power of God. He is explaining now how they can "tap" into that same power. And He does this by picturing an even more incredible demonstration of power of moving a mountain (probably alluding to the Mount of Olives). Of course He did not mean they were to go about moving mountains, but that they were to lay hold of faith in God, a "mountain moving" type of faith. He explains that this doubt is the antithesis of belief and is the enemy that prevents one from tapping into the power of God in prayer. "The statement of Jesus is a picture of that which is utterly impossible with men, yet can be accomplished through faith in the power of God." (Hiebert) Hiebert comments that this is "a statement of expectancy. Jesus assumes that someone would find it in his heart to make such a statement. Far from condemning it, Jesus pointed out the conditions under which it would receive certain fulfillment. “This mountain” has primary reference to the Mount of Olives, but the whole statement is obviously figurative. Neither Jesus nor His disciples went about uprooting literal mountains." Be taken up and cast into the sea,' - The request is marked by two commands both in the aorist imperative boldly calling for this to be carried out with expediency. Both of these command are in the passive voice which is important because it means the effecting agent or power to take up and to cast into comes from a Source outside of the one who speaks the request. In short both passives are excellent examples of the so-called divine passive which indicates that God is the Source of the power to energize and effect the successful completion of these commands and bring about the expected result. Hiebert - "the command of faith in the face of an impossible situation. Be removed (more literally, “be taken up”) and cast are aorist imperative, commanding acts that must take place at once. The passive voice implies that God is the agent behind the actions. “The sea” may refer either to the Dead Sea, visible from the Mount of Olives, or to the Mediterranean, but the metaphorical teaching is the complete disappearance of the encountered difficulty (ED: WHATEVER THE "MOUNTAIN" IS FOR WHICH ONE IS PRAYING TO BE REMOVED). But such a miraculous achievement demands the fulfillment of specific conditions, negative and positive. And does not doubt in his heart - There must be no conflict between his outward assertion and his inner attitude. As discussed below in the parallel passage in James doubt pictures one's mind in dispute with itself; so that the person "doubting" in effect wavers between opposing outcomes, in one moment thinking that the petition will be granted but then giving sway to the antithetical thought that the request will not be granted.
Marcos 11
Spurgeon - If you look at it carefully, I think you will perceive the essential qualities which are necessary to any great success and prevalence in prayer. According to our Saviour’s description of prayer, there should always be some definite objects for which we should plead. He speaks of things—“what things soever ye desire.” It seems then that he did not put it that God’s children would go to him to pray when they have nothing to pray for. Another essential qualification of prayer is earnest desire; for the Master supposes here that when we pray we have desires. Indeed it is not prayer, it may be something like prayer, the outward form or the bare skeleton, but it is not the living thing, the all-prevailing, almighty thing, called prayer, unless there be a fulness and overflowing of desires. Observe, too, that faith is an essential quality of successful prayer—“believe that ye receive them.” Ye cannot pray so as to be heard in heaven and answered to your soul’s satisfaction, unless you believe that God really hears and will answer you. One other qualification appears here upon the very surface, namely, that a realizing expectation should always go with a firm faith—“believe that ye receive them.” Not merely believe that “ye shall” but believe that “ye do” receive them—count them as if they were received, reckon them as if you had them already, and act as if you had them—act as if you were sure you should have them—“believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” Let us review these four qualities, one by one. (For Spurgeon's review of these qualities read the sermon that you might be enabled and encouraged to pray with power and persistence Mark 11:24 The True Prayer--True Power!) Spurgeon - Allow me to quote what an old preacher said upon the subject of prayer, and give it to you as a little word of advice—“Remember, the Lord will not hear thee, because of the arithmetic of thy prayers; he does not count their numbers. He will not hear thee because of the rhetoric of thy prayers; he does not care for the eloquent language in which they are conveyed. He will not listen to thee because of the geometry of thy prayers; he does not compute them by their length, or by their breadth. He will not regard thee because of the music of thy prayers; he doth not care for sweet voices, nor for harmonious periods. Neither will he look at thee because of the logic of thy prayers, or because they are well arranged. But he will hear thee, and he will measure the amount of the blessing he will give thee, according to the divinity of thy prayers. If thou canst plead the person of Christ, and if the Holy Ghost inspire thee with zeal and earnestness, the blessings which thou shalt ask, shall surely come unto thee.” Brethren, I would like to burn the whole stock of old prayers that we have been using this fifty years. That “oil that goes from vessel to vessel,”—that “horse that rushes into the battle,”—that misquoted mangled text, “where two or three are met together, thou wilt be in the midst of them, and that to bless them,” and all those other quotations which we have been manufacturing, and dislocating, and copying from man to man. I would that we came to speak to God, just out of our own hearts. It would be a grand thing for our prayer meetings. Related Resources: Colossians 1:9 Commentary Colossians 4:12 Commentary Devotional on Prayer Guide to Praying for Missionaries Philippians 4:6 Commentary Pithy Prayer Phrases Prayer - Greek Words for Prayer Prayer Devotionals and Illustrations Prayer Hymns and Poems Prayer Quotes Prayer Quotes, Devotionals and Illustrations Praying for People from Every Tribe, Tongue, People and Nation Praying His Word Praying in the Spirit Spurgeon's Gems on Prayer Andrew