On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” Mark 11:12-14.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Rid yourself of all malice. Clear your heart. Do not harbor or express ill will towards anyone, from the person you know intimately to a person you only have a brief encounter with. Love is born after travail.
Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy. Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. John 16:20-22.
Love is a decision to take all rancor and clamor out of your heart for everything and everyone. Sometimes you even get this rancor and clamor and ill will towards someone you hardly know, such as a clerk in a store, a customer or client, a waitress at a restaurant, or the judge that decided your case at court.
If you are serious about following Me and being My disciple it is time for you to guard your heart and keep it open to Me. Jesus was open to Me. And, this may surprise you, to guard your heart you must talk to things that would bind you or stop your destiny that I have planned for your life.
Now on one of those days Jesus and His disciples got into a boat, and He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they launched out. But as they were sailing along He fell asleep; and a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger. They came to Jesus and woke Him up, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And He got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm. And He said to them, “Where is your faith?” Luke 8:22-25.
Jesus not only had conversations with people, He also spoke to storms, wind, waves, fig trees, demons, the devil, and mountains. Not for conversations but for commands. Things that got in the way of His mission to seek out and save the lost, He rebuked and took them down. He did not address Me about them, He addressed them. And He told you to do the same. Do you?
If you will note, Jesus thanked and addressed Me about good things He was doing, such as multiplying provisions, raising Lazarus from the dead, asking Me to protect His disciples from evil after He returned to Heaven, praying for unity among believers, praying for Peter that his faith would never fail, and asking Me to forgive those who crucified and mocked Him. And even now He lives forever to make intercession for you.
Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. Hebrews 7:25.
In this life lesson, we shall consider a conversation Jesus had with an unfruitful fig tree and with His amazed disciples.
Jesus and His disciples had entered Jerusalem and gone up the root to the temple with Jesus riding on a donkey to fulfill the prophecy of Zechariah:
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Zechariah 9:9.
It was a miraculous day, with the children dancing and singing and the multitude greeting Jesus with a quote from Psalm 118. Hosanna! Jesus went in and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late. They went, of course, to the home of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, whom Jesus had raised from the dead a short time before. John 11:38-55. But this time Martha stayed with Mary, Lazarus, and the disciples to listened to Jesus.
On the next day, when they had left Bethany, Jesus became hungry. Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening. And so was the tree. You will note He did not talk to Me or to the disciples about the tree, He talked to the unfruitful tree that had leaves but no fruit. He spoke to the problem not about the problem. Think about that. And that word set things in motion to line up with the Word spoken in faith. My command of empowerment is the blessing of fruitfulness. Things that are not fruitful just clutter up the ground and take out of those who are fruitful but in doing so they start draining them as well. You have to watch this in people who are takers and not givers. They will try to drain everything out of you and in them it goes no where except to fatten them up as they clutter the ground.
Jesus had not prayed about the fig tree or spent a long time rebuking it nor did He concern Himself whether it had obeyed or not. He knew it had. I have given you dominion over the works of My hands and unfruitful things must be rooted out, like weeds, for they choke the wheat.
I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. John 15:5-6.
That is the way Adam and Eve guarded and cultivated the Garden of Eden, they commanded what went on there. But then they abdicated their throne of dominion over the earth to Satan, submitting to his lies, which are perishable seed and death entered the world. It will be the last enemy to go under My Son’s feet when He returns to take back the earth.
After My Son spoke to the unfruitful fig tree, He and His disciples continued on and they came to Jerusalem. Remember, the night before Jesus had merely looked around at everything. He thought about it and heard from Me that night. So He knew what I wanted done for the farce that was going on in that Holy place. He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ den.” The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching. Mark 11:15-18.
When evening came, they went out of the city and in the morning they returned. And as they were walking along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered.” He was excited to see what Jesus had said had happened even though the day before they thought His words had done nothing to the tree. Mark 11:19-21.
It as at this point that Jesus taught them how faith works. You get faith in your heart by hearing and hearing My Word and knowing what I said, that is, what I have promised you and what I have freely given you in Christ. It is then you can stand on the truth and be assured you will have the result that is in My Word. So Jesus began the teaching that will transform your life and the world.
And Jesus answered saying to them, “Have faith in God. 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. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.” Mark 11:22-26.
In this passage you find how faith in Me operates.
- Have faith in God.
This is where your connection with My power in you begins. And faith comes by knowing who I am, what I do for you, and the love I have for you. And you know this from My Word. I am all powerful, nothing is too hard for Me, and I want to use My power for you and not against you. You cannot move a mountain or get healed or cast out demons or tread on the lies of the devil if you do not know the Scripture (the written Word) that best addresses your issue and checks the devil’s lies and stops him in his tactics and deceitful scheming. You overcome the devil by the Blood of the Lamb (that redeemed you from sin and condemnation) and the Word of your testimony. You must speak the truth of My Word to take down a lie and move the mountain that is in the way of your destiny.
“If you continue in My Word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” John 8:31-32.
- Speak to the mountain
Find the Scripture that directly addresses your “mountain,” whether it be physical ills, financial challenges, emotional or mental problems, enemies, accusations from Satan bringing up past sins, a tremendous work load, and a host of other tactics and accusations of Satan, including sickness and pain, anxiety and fear. And once you have the answer that is in My Word, take that answer and speak it directly to what has attacked you whether physical, mental, emotional, or financial. You take down Satan’s lies and the illness and financial lack he brings by answering him with the truth. Truth trumps any lie. Say he brings you illness, you have to answer it with the truth. You must tell him, “Oh no you don’t! I have a healer. Jesus bore My sickness and took my pains, by the bloody scourging of Jesus I am healed.” And then you must go one step further.
- Say to the mountain ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea’
You have to cast out the unclean spirit or speak to the mountain or storm that has gotten between you and your Kingdom assignment and take it down. Jesus said for the mountain to be taken up and cast into the sea, because only the sea is deep enough to cover a mountain without leaving a trace of it to be seen. So let us say you had been attacked with cancer, after speaking the truth of healing by the healing Scriptures, you would cast out the unclean spirit of cancer by saying, “Unclean spirit of cancer, you are not mine and you cannot stay in me I cast you out in Jesus’ Name!” When you submit to My Words, resist the devil by taking his lies down with the truth of My Word, and then cast him out as Jesus told you to do, you who believe in His Name, Mark 16:17, he MUST flee from YOU and take all his evil spirits with him. You have been redeemed from the curse of the law of sin and death by Jesus. Know that and rebuke all that is of the curse, i.e., sickness, pain, poverty, lack, and eternal death.
- Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.
Once you have answered the devil’s lies with the truth of My Word (tread on Him by faith in My Word), and cast out the evil or taken down the mountain or calmed the storm or stopped the unfruitful influences in your life, you can turn to Me in prayer to restore all the devil stole from you in the illness, the pain, the financial loss, the ruined relationship, the sin and ask for good things to fill your day. You cast all your care on Me because I care for you and have no more anxiety about the mountain, the unfruitful life, the sickness, the financial lack, knowing the Word is working once you set it in motion. And I watch over My Word coming out of your heart and mouth to perform it. You never return the Word to Me void for My Word will achieve the purpose for which I sent it. I sent My Word to heal you and deliver you from all destruction. Use it and put My Word to work with Me as your helper. Nothing is impossible for Me and all things are possible for those who believe that. And how do you show Me, the devil, and all creation that you have faith in My Word, that you believe you have received My promise in your spirit before it actually manifests in the physical realm? You thank and praise Me with songs, hymns, Spirit sent songs with joyful, shouts for the good result before you see it. And then know you have it for sure. This will keep your attention off the problem and on Me as you stay in perfect peace watching in love as My promise comes to pass.
- Forgive
In all this you must receive My forgiveness for you and forgive all against whom you have any bitterness, including yourself, by applying Jesus’ cleansing blood. Without getting rid of the bitter roots that are sealing your heart shut, even though I have answered you and sent the blessing you are seeking you cannot receive it because the door to your heart is shut so tight I cannot get it in. My gifts are stacked up outside your door waiting for you to open up your heart to receive. Remember the standard by which you judge (measure) must be applied back to you. That is a spiritual law. If you cannot forgive, it means you are saying the blood is not enough to take away sins, for that is how I forgive you and how you must forgive others, Jesus has paid you and Me the price for all sin, if you refuse to forgive others or yourself you are dishonoring Me by saying the blood of Jesus is not enough to take away the sin and I must then apply that same standard to your sins. Selah.
Jesus taught Peter and His disciples a huge lesson in the conversation with the fig tree and then the conversation with them about how to get the same results. When you speak out My Word you go right to the root of the problem and soon you will see the results. You must get to the root to stop the shoot.
I love you. Listen to Jesus and you will know just what to do with any problem that arises. Learn to move mountains and wither up unfruitful areas of your life. Anyone can do it by faith in Me. And faith in Me is faith in My Word. And that is what the conversations with Jesus are all about. The truth. And the truth will set you free. It will make you skillful and train you for battle. It will make you an overcomer.